Documentary Photography L5

Introduction & Research Skills

Documentary photography is a way in which photographers aim to capture significant and historical events. Typically portrayed by professional photojournalists reporting big-picture problems in a nuanced and evocative fashion. The produced images should be truthful, objective and usually candid photography. Some images can build arguments over long periods of time from an informed experimental point of view. Some of the notable documentary photographers are Dorothea Lange, Don McCullin and Jacob Riis. Nowadays, documentary photography has progressed as it has now been made easier to document events due to the smartphone. News now spreads internationally at a rapid speed through Twitter and other social networks. Typical modern types of documentary photography include 'burndiary' and 'humansofnewyorkoriginal' as they get an up-close view on people and document it in a story-telling fashion. There are many different themes of documentary photography including social; live events; street; self portraiture; sports; landscape and editorial. 

Task

What are you interested in? Find a documentary photographer who photographs the thing that you're most interested in.

I believe good photography should leave a lasting effect on the viewer, whether it be inspiring, dazzling or distressing. That is why worldwide and international events photography interests me more than others, such as; natural-disasters, social culture, and war scenes. These general 'big-news' stories can be difficult to relate to, and we may feel at distance from them as viewers, however, we find ourselves looking over and over the images and taking time for the image to settle in our minds. Its like when you see a car crash, why is it, that even though we know its going to be a terrible sight, we still look? It is this type of photography that I appreciate the most, when it generates true emoticon and compassion with the images. I researched into different documentary photographers and photojournalists, and I came across Andrea Bruce. She is a photojournalist living in Afghanistan and brings attention to people living in the aftermath of war. Her coverage of the Kashmir Earthquake is the story that had the most profound effect on me. 'Over 86,000 people died and 3 million people were left homeless by the earthquake that shook the Pakistani and Indian regions of Kashmir. Preoccupied by the news of other natural disasters, the international community was slow to respond to the 7.6 magnitude earthquake.  Harsh winter conditions and mountain landslides hampered relief efforts in many areas.  Survivors from remote villages hiked for days, carrying injured and dead family members to the Pakistani town of Balakot where helicopters eventually arrived to airlift people to better medical facilities.  (October, 2005)'. Andrea Bruce's set of truthful images completely depict the reality of the upsetting scenes, they are poignant and leave a lasting effect on the viewer. 

References

http://www.andreabruce.com/#/kashmir-earthquake/?view=2

I Heart My University

Task

Take 2 photographs under the theme of 'I Heart My University'. One which you would take for National Geographic Magazine and one for The Daily Mail.

The above photograph would be featured in 'The Daily Mail', it represents the university in a positive light, and one of the most established education buildings of Leeds Metropolitan University. With the sunlight, blue sky, and the sheer beauty of the building, this is an attractive image to a viewer, and this is what 'The Daily Mail' would be interested in representing.

This image would be used in National Geographic, as it represents travel and nature, which is what the magazine is all about. It captures the woodland area around the university, and with the signpost it almost looks as though the journey to university is an adventure, and I believe this is something they would want to represent.

Deconstructing Magazines

A successful magazine targets a specific market and a specific reader. As a photojournalist it is essential that we can deconstruct a magazine and understand their codes and readerships. The most common magazine markets are as follows:

• Consumer 
• Business to business 
• Newspaper supplements 
• News and educational 
• In house journals 
• Independent or alternative 

The target market establishes the magazine and is essentially the groundwork to develop a successful product. The magazine market and readership come hand in hand, a target audience is a fundamental element of a magazines purpose. “The categorisation of readers by age-group or relationship status is used by magazine publishers and advertisers as a shorthand way of indicating the main issues discussed in the magazines editorial material, the kind of readers the magazines are thought to have, and the kinds of products advertised in the magazines”. “A semiotic analysis might reveal that a particular magazine has an ‘ideal reader’ corresponding to the man or woman whose interests are targeted by the magazine, there will (also) be a large number of non-’ideal’ readers”.

The Semiotics of a Magazine

• Magazines construct signs to communicate social meanings for their readers
• These signs relate to an ideology that appear natural in the context of the magazine 
• The ideology that the magazine constructs relates to the advertising that the magazine attracts

It is important for a photojournalist, especially a freelance one, to research into the magazine you are writing for to understand their market and readership. This will effect the way you write and photograph, a photojournalist will need to ask themselves the following questions:

• Who will see the pictures?
• What will they expect to see?
• What will they not expect to see?
• How will you provoke their interest?
• Whats the story?
• What can I say about the story?
• How can I tell the story?
• Where should my story be published?

References

Jonathan Bignell Media Semiotics: An introduction

Saturday Assignment 

Task

Choose an existing publication - newspaper, website or magazine. Decide how they would cover the theme of 'Saturday' and shoot a mini story (5-6 photographs) for your chosen publication. Prepare a statement that describes how and why you chose the angle of your story.

Busking It

I think The New Statesman  would be interested in an article about busking. It would explain how it is a simple way of life for people in Leeds, and how Saturday is the day too make the most money in the city centre. It would also explain how busking it is a way for aspiring musicians to get noticed while making minimal money performing their favourite hobbies. 

Street Photography

'Street photographs are telling objects, portraying how individuals perform their identities in public'. It is one of the more popular sub-genres of documentary photography, it features the human condition with public places, and doesn't constrain the presence of a street or urban environment. Street photography can be done discretely or directly, depending on the aim of a photographer. Its mostly shot to depict the reality and true feel of the environment, whether it be of people, landscapes, animals, architecture. Street photography most commonly takes place on bustling city centres, high streets, and suburbs, this is to capture people doing their daily routines, and the way of life in the area you are shooting. 

Bruce Gilden is an excellent example of a street photographer he shows no hesitation and captures the moment perfectly. Street photography sometimes intimidates people as the people you are photographing usually show some character, which is why their picture is so intriguing, but their is no said answer to how they will react. It takes a confident and professional street photographer to determine a good photograph and convince the model. Bruce Gilden carries this out with ease, as it shows within his photographs of Cony Island NY. 'Some are taken unawares, some are surprised. Some didn't know what hit them, and I think most people like to be photographed. But since I work in a spontaneous way, I have to be a little bit sneaky because I don't want them to know that I'm going to take a picture of them.' 'I think I have a very good bedside manner, so to speak, because I’ve been doing it so many years. I’m very comfortable, and that minimizes the possibility of having problems. I’m very intuitive and I’m able to select the people that I think wouldn’t mind or at least show that they’re minding.'

Cony Island NY (1976-82) by Bruce Gilden

We looked at other street photographers and their most well known work:

Eugene Atget - A French photographer known for his street and architecture work in Paris.

Jacob Riis – Well known for his talents that helped the impoverished New York City

Robert Frank - well known for his book 'The Americans'

Roger Mayne - most famous series of photographs taken in Southam Street

Surreptitious Photography

• 'a penitent spy and apologetic voyeur'
• 'a pervert, voyeur and flasher all rolled into one'
• 'I felt that one could get the quality of being through the fact that the person did not know he was being photographed.'

'Between 1938 and 1941 Walker Evans made a series of portraits of passengers on the New York Subway using a 35mm Contax camera set at a wide aperture and a 50th of a second shutter speed, with the chrome parts painted black, hidden beneath his coat. Evans rode the subway and waited until, he guessed, the person opposite him was appropriately framed. Then, using a shutter release cable running down his sleeve, he would steady himself and take a picture.'

Through the development of smartphones, street photography has become more accessible to the everyday citizen. It happens regularly on a daily basis, by people who don't even consider themselves photographers. An application named Instagram has now made a huge audience appreciate photography more, and people can publish their work in a social networking way. Using smartphones allows photographers to discretely take a photograph, as there is no sound, no flash, and no huge lens. Some believe this is wrong, and an invasion of privacy. But professional photographers have took to this technique to get up close and personal to their models within street photography. I researched into mobile street photographers, and stumbled upon Mohsen Chinehkesh, who is a talented street photographer from Iran. 'Street photography was the main theme of the community and the idea of using an iPhone to photograph people without being noticed really grabbed my attention. I’ve always been fascinated by capturing people but using a camera has never served what I need in this field.' 'When I started using iPhone for this purpose my goal was to stay unnoticed by the people I’m capturing. But after about one year of mobile street photography I’ve come up with a new idea: I use my iPhone because I want people to notice me instead of my camera while I’m shooting!'

Mohsen Chinehkesh - Iran

Here are some images I took in Leeds City Centre as a practice for street photography:

References

- Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spizer quoted by Jennifer Tucker Eye on the Street: Photography in Urban Public Spaces Radical History Review September 2012

- Bruce Gilden interview on American SuburbX

- Walker Evans quoted by Geoff Dyer The Ongoing Moment 2005 

- Bruce Davidson quoted by Geoff Dyer The Ongoing Moment 2005 

- Paul Strand quoted by Geoff Dyer The Ongoing Moment 2005 

- http://iphonephotographyschool.com/mohsen-chinehkesh/ 

Street Photography Assignment

Task

Produce a set of six street photographs based on one of the following themes: Family Life; Fast Food; After Hours or Fur and Leather. You will need to decide if you wish to take surreptitious pictures or if you wish to be open and obvious.

Family Life

Hidden Places Assignment

Task

Negotiate access to somewhere that not usually seen. This could be the backstage area of a theatre, a restaurant kitchen or anywhere else that’s hidden from view. Take a set of pictures that describes what happens in this hidden place. Also try to show your point of view as an ‘intruder’ to this hidden world.

For this task I negotiated access to a hotel I used to work at. They gave me permission to shoot the cellar of the bar where all the barrels and stock is stored. 

Does documentary photography always depict the truth?

Documentary photography is a way in which photographers aim to capture significant and historical events. Typically portrayed by professional photojournalists reporting big-picture problems in a nuanced and evocative fashion. But, should viewers always believe the images? Can we trust the photographer to display a true capture of reality? Not always. Photographs, especially in documentary photography, can be constructed to intensify or completely devise the setting. Whereas, documentary photography is usually an observational view of the circumstance, as the image is captured by simply witnessing what is happening and on-looking. In the victorian era, it was believed that photography did always depict the truth, they believed that psychiatric illness could be determined through visible symptoms displayed within the photographs. The following images show the inmates of a 19th Century asylum photographed for examination purposes only. 

'The peculiar application of photography to the delineation of insanity. The photographer secures with unerring accuracy the external phenomena of each passion, as the really certain indication of internal derangement, and exhibits to the eye the well-known sympathy which exists between the diseased brain and the organs and features of the body'. To diagnose mental patients from a photograph, seems ludicrous to the modern eye. Cristina De Middel is a London-based documentary photographer she created 'The Life & Miracles of Paula P', this is a story constructed about a fake prostitute. This shows that documentary style can be constructed, and not depict reality in the slightest, in fact, just materialised from nothing.

Cristina De Middel - The Life & Miracles of Paula P

However, I believe these photographs could have been constructed in an improved manner, she could of made the images more realistic, and fulfilled the expectations of a set of images about a prostitute. I believe good photography should leave a lasting effect on the viewer, whether it be inspiring, dazzling or distressing. This type of photography usually depicts the truth, for example, Malcolm Brownies project on The Buddhist Protests of 1963. 'That morning a Buddhist monk went out and sat down in a main intersection in downtown Saigon. Two of his fellow monks poured gasoline over him, and he set himself on fire and died. I was there, the only western correspondent present and taking pictures. I suppose I took six or eight rolls of 35-millimeter film.' 

These images are an obvious depiction of reality, as it was taken on film, in the days where digital photography wasn't fully established, therefore, these images could not have been digitally enhanced, or even staged for that matter. These photographs are a horrific depiction of reality which implies, that, when done like a true documentary photographer, it almost always depicts the truth. 

References

http://www.pbs.org/weta/reportingamericaatwar/reporters/browne/protests.html

John Tagg

Negotiated Photography

Negotiation is one of the primary elements that make a successful documentary photographer. A professional photographer will negotiate in order to gain access to certain places, and certain people. It is important for the person you are negotiating with to gain your trust, some spend years building this bond before they gain access to their projects. Photojournalists can sometimes be stereotyped, and frowned upon automatically, negotiation and trust can change peoples minds. Take Ashley Gilbertson for example, he had to negotiate and earn the trust of the families of soldiers who fell during the war in Iraq and and Afghanistan whilst serving for the US military, in order to create his collection 'Bedrooms of the Fallen'. 

Ashley Gilbertson - Bedrooms of the Fallen

Here are some images I have taken in the past using negotiation. I had to ask politely to take their photograph, and explain what I was doing, and negotiate my way to gain their trust. (Some asking me if I was a police woman). Here are a few of my images:

References

www.bedroomsofthefallen.com, Ashley Gilbertson

Observations & Ideas

Documentary photography is 'a self-assigned form of reporting that tackles big-picture problems in a nuanced and evocative fashion, building up arguments through a series of images made over long periods of time and from an informed experiential point of view.

Independent photographers combine their skills as reporters and artists, developing extended photographic essays that delve deeply into humanistic topics and present distinct personal visions of the world.' Phillip Jones Griffiths was a (fellow) Welsh photojournalist, most famous for his coverage of the war in Vietnam. This collection of images exhibits the shocking realities of the Vietnam war which is often avoided in journalism and photography.

Phillip Jones Griffiths - Vietnam 

References

Brett Abbott Engaged Observers in Context Paul Getty Museum 2010

Phillip Jones Griffiths 

Post Documentary Photography

'History and the History of Photography are intertwined. We live in a time that technology has documented and changed social patterns. This has always been the case. Photography as such has no identity. Its status as a technology varies with the power relations which invest it. Its nature as a practice depends on the institutions and agents which define it and set it to work. Its function as a mode of cultural production is tied to definite conditions of existence, and its products are meaningful and legible within the particular currencies they have. Like the state, the camera is never neutral. The representations it produces are highly coded, and the power it wields is never it's own'. 'Documentary Photography has come to represent the social conscience of liberal sensibility presented in visual imagery. It did not perceive these wrongs as fundamental to the social system that tolerated them. Documentary testifies, finally, to the bravery or (dare we name it) the manipulativeness and savvy of the photographer, who entered a situation of physical danger, social restrictedness, human decay or combinations of these and saved us the trouble. Or who, like astronauts, entertained us by showing the places we never hope to go.' Documentary still exists, still functions socially in one way or another. Liberalism may have been routed, but its cultural expressions still survive. This mainstream documentary has achieved legitimacy and has a decidedly ritualistic character. It begins in glossy magazines and books, occasionally in newspapers, and becomes more expensive as it moves into art galleries and museums. The liberal documentary assuages any stirrings of conscience in its viewers the way that scratching relieves an itch and simultaneously reassures them about their relative wealth and social position. Documentary is a little like horror movies, putting a face on fear and transforming threat into fantasy, into imagery.'

Jacob Riis

Do documentary photographs humanise their objects?

'Documentary, journalistic, and news photography, rather than seeking to promote understanding, may aim to provoke, to horrify, or to mobilise sentiment against a generalised danger or a specific enemy or condition. It is true that all forms of representation call forth questions of responsibility and perhaps descriptive accuracy, but those evoked by photographic representation are unique. The poetics of form can lead to a reception of images as poetic, a form of personalised address that escapes either responsibility or reportorial accuracy, though it may increase the force of truth, but as subjectivised witness rather than objective reportage.'

The phases of the image:

• It is the reflection of profound reality
• It masks and denotes a profound reality
• It masks the absence of a profound reality
• It has no relation to any reality whatsoever: it is its own pure simulacrum 

The Hyperreal 

'The real…no longer needs to be rational, because it no longer measures itself against an ideal.  It is no longer anything but operational.  In fact, it is no longer really the real..It is a hyperreal. '

References

John Tagg The Burden of Representation 1988

Martha Rosler In, Around and `Afterthoughts (on Documentary Photography) 1981

Simulacra and Simulation Jean Baudrillard

Research for Documentary Feature

For my final documentary feature, I took into consideration all the projects I had researched during weekly workshops to decide what subject I wanted to document, and which angle I wanted to adopt. Some of my original plans fell through, such as documenting agricultural life in Mid-Wales. However, this broadened my logic, as I was under pressure to find an interesting subject with a small amount of time. One of the ideas that came to mind, due to recent news stories in Leeds, was the press. I thought if I could find the right angle to document the press and the media, it could actually be an interesting subject. Photography of photographers, was something I hadn't come across before. So I decided to research into articles about the media and came across these:

• http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jul/01/too-much-press-freedom-ask-72-dead-journalists
• http://metro.co.uk/2012/05/14/photographers-starting-to-fight-back-against-excessive-security-measures-424703/
• https://www.cpj.org/2011/02/attacks-on-the-press-2010-africa-analysis.php
• http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/feb/22/king-richard-iii-press-mediaDocumentary Feature

Documentary Feature

Task

This feature must be a documentary feature that is suitable for an existing publication. It could be a news story or a feature story based on a current issue. You will have to produce a proposal for your story that is aimed at an existing publication or website. For the final assignment you will deliver and edited set of ten photographs and a feature story. 

The Pursuit of the Press

‘If it bleeds it leads’ – this statement regards the media and their conventional negative reports, and is one of many spawning dark times upon the world of journalism. Many of us frequently complain about the negativity of the British media system, mostly reporting on disasters and murders, rather than victories and achievements. So, is the glass of the British press really half-empty?

There are many defective events that happen in the modern world, including crime, injustice, famine and war. As news consumers, we want to digest this information as a way of educating ourselves. Could you imagine if these events went ignored and unreported? The press has a duty to deliver us what we want to hear, regardless of its negative reflection on the media. However, broadcasters sometimes have a tendency to emotionalise the news by emphasizing any potential negative result of the story. Could this just be a way to increase the impact of the story, by scaremongering consumers to gain their attention? Bad news is usually noticed, for example, if a student is consistently good, they go unnoticed. But when a bad student achieves an A or even does a good gesture, they get noticed and praised more. ‘Bad news sells’ is another phrase that categorizes the British press.

After visiting Corpus Christi Catholic College preceding the murder of Spanish teacher Ann Maguire, realisation sunk of the hard reality of these negative news stories. The press flooded around the school gates, prevailing the mourners of the teacher. There is no escaping for the family, every time they switch on the TV, the radio, or their smartphone, they’re reminded of this tragic incident, how could they move on? The reporters and journalists at the scene were simply just doing their jobs, earning money like the rest of us. Although they were making phone calls, talking tactics, and setting up their equipment, oblivious to the reality of the story itself. This could be seen as disrespectful, and more of a connection could have been made with the mourners.

Less could be more when reporting negative stories, instead of repeating over and over again, a single respectful report, then offer a further link if we want further information. The ratio of bad news to good news is the real issue; an equal amount could end theories that news is bad for our mental stability.

There are concerns that consuming the news can lead to fear and aggression, and that negatively displayed broadcasts are likely to increase anxiety and hinder our creativity. Due to the majority of news being pessimistic, consumers don’t fully relate to the real sadness of the stories, sometimes thinking ‘just another murder’. This can be a sign that negative stories are too often reported, making it difficult to portray the real heartache.

More people should deal with reality as it is, and false optimism can sometimes be more damaging than accurately reported news. But we don’t need to be bombarded by it constantly in everyday life. Heartwarming stories could encourage more people to supervene, and do good things. Nowadays, if you do something bad you are more likely to end up on the news, than if you do something good, this is no inspiration to the general consumer. The real question is: is it the press that needs to change or society?

Reflective Evaluation

Following my research and viewing the minimal photographs out there regarding the press, I decided this is a subject I wanted to document. I believed that this current issue needed editorial coverage, as the majority of photographs shown in my research were just plain news snapshots. I want my photographs to be interesting and provoke the imagination of the viewer. I concluded that 'The Pursuit of the Press' was the type of documentary I was aiming for. I researched online current news stories in the local Leeds area that could attract the media. The most prominent news story, sadly, was the murder of 61-year-old Spanish teacher Ann Maguire at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds. After researching my legal rights as a photographer, I decided to attend the scene to observe the press. To my expectations the whole street was full of photographers, film cameras, and news reporters. I evaluated the scene and had a respectful walk around to plan the most effective shots for my documentary. I noticed that there were more people working for the media at the scene, than people paying their respects to the Spanish teachers death. This is when I was positive that I could convey an interesting angle of the press. I found it strange that while past students of Mrs Maguire were visiting, laying flowers in deep memory of their teacher; there were also journalists and photographers, just getting on with their everyday jobs. They would be making phone calls, talking tactics, and setting up their equipment, oblivious to the reality of the story itself. I took as many shots of the scene as I could, aiming to take them from a range of angles to make a more intriguing set of photographs. Whilst shooting, I was imagining my target audience and publication, which is the New Statesman magazine that covers; politics, economics, culture, global current affairs and culture. I figured my article and photographs of 'The Pursuit of the Press' would fit comfortably into their current affairs section. I aimed to get a variety of photographs, so I captured the them in deep thought, researching their assignment, and planning their next shot, this showed that it is an occupation to them, and not a personal issue. For me, this was my first experience with a live news story, to start I found it quite overwhelming to be in that type of environment, but eventually I began to assimilate with the other journalists. As individuals they wouldn't think too hard about the real sadness of the story, but focus on the best footage and photographs, that shows a true professional. It was fairly simple for me to capture the media in this setting, because I blended in as a photographer, and managed to get some gratifying action shots. Originally I wanted to edit my final images to black and white. But when tested, I thought this may be typical of documentary photography, and regardless they were more effective in colour, it showed the contrast of the dark equipment and clouds against the bright and colourful flowers. Overall, my experience went smoothly, and I was happy with the majority of my shots. I was surprised at how well it went, considering it was an extremely last minute plan. I asked some of the press vans if I could photograph them working inside, but they wouldn't allow me access. Apart from this step-back, I think I achieved everything I could of on that day.