Documentary is the largest form of photographic practice.
Joseph Nicephore Niepce - 1826 - 'View from a window at la gras'
-One of the first 'documentary' photographs.
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| Joseph Nicephore's picture from 1826. |
Instantly struck with anyone who was interested in documenting anything.
The term document signifies evidence of something neutral & not to be questioned.
use of the camera to document with the purpose of changing the world.
Strength of photography lies in its ability to perceive & portray humanity.
This is part of the reason for war photography, however it is also able to show people what is happening without them having to go there, to escape what is portrayed by the mass media of the war being a good thing.
JAMES NACHTWEY
-Documentary photographer is not to be dissinterested, they are taking a political position. A subjective stance in order to expose war for the benefit of humanity.
-Political & humanitarian agenda.
Shows the darker side of events to those that may never see it.
-In order to align and create bonds between the photographer & the viewer.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Photographer who waits for the dessicive moment, becomes more important & artistic.
Jacob Riis (1888)
Photographed squalor and poverty with the aim of showing it to people so they could help to reform the poverty.
However people in his pictures pose/have been placed - projected in a sense of self... Riis' depiction of the squalor.
-sensationalises the scenes for the upper classes.
rich are then able to 'spy' on the poor.
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| Jacob Riis' 'Growler Gang robbing a lush' 1887 |
Completely staged picture - Questionable depictions.
OTHERING - in order to stamp representation onto people
-Images of people out to other people.
Lewis Hine 1908
FSA PHOTOGRAPHS
Roy Stryker
-Document plight of migrant labourers as a lobbying tool for their rehousing.
documenting with an agenda
Photographers given shooting scripts, showing them what to take.
Margaret Bourke-White ( boy and dog device) 1937
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| Margaret Bourke-White's image depicting a boy with a dog. |
Photographic propaganda with a neutral disguise
Dorothea Lange (1936) 'Migrant Mother'
lots of rejected photos with compositions an imagery that weren't quite right.
Walker Evans
-Highly aestheticised.
John Lamprey 1868 - scrutinising 'the other'. Comparing them to 'us'. Scientific pirsuits.
-attempts to justify white superiority
-portraits of italian & german criminals.
colonial agenda/mark or scrutinise
Mass observation 1937 - 1960s
-Depict everyday life in Britain (truthfully & accurately)
-Attempts to develop a neutral demographic.
-Shared vision/ more accurate depiction
Stakes are raised in war/conflict photography
-horrifying & striking images ROBERT CAPA ( normandy )
-dependant on new technologies
Capa shudder (AESTHETIC OR TRUTHFUL?)
Magnum founded in 1947 Cartier Bresson & Capa
-Ethos of depicting the world and its social problems.
Robert Haeberle 1969
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| Robert Haeberle's, 'people about to be shot' |
-Image of immense power/ preserved image of abject horror & inhumanity
"Still there is something predatory in the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they see themselves, by having knowledge of them as they can never be; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as the camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminated murder- a soft murder, appropraite to a sad, frightened time."- Susan Sontag, 1979:15.
Documentary photography
-Offer a humanitarian perspective
-Portray social & political situations
-Purport to be objective to facts of the scene
-People tend to form the subject matter.
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