Documentary and Narrative- Faith, Family and Community
What is Documentary photography? What sub-genres fit into documentary photography?
Documentary photography is a medium that focuses on and explores a story in depth either over a short or extended period of time. Documentary photography is primarily concerned with photojournalism and real life reportage. The objective is to create truthful and meaningful art that visually tells a story which we can relate to or understand. Documentary photography informally show ordinary lives though story form using photographs. Simply put documentary photography is a record or document of life from the lens of a camera.
‘Time in photography isn’t only about its passage, whether measured in hours, days or months. It’s about its captured moments, be it in a second, or five hundredths of a second.’
Documentary photography includes and has sub genres such as street photography, photojournalism, portraiture, landscape, social documentary and editorial. This form of photography is considered to be a very intimate style of art, it creates a connection between the viewer and image, it shows the world as it really is. The photographer chooses a specific moment in time, framing and message in order to capture an influential and informative photograph to shock and grab the public’s attention; the aim is to change opinion and persuade people. Henri Cartier-Bresson is pictured as the father of photojournalism and street photography. Martin Parr is another powerful name, Parr’s work focuses on a negative perspective of British culture. I will look further both photographer’s work in my photographer study, however, I wanted to mention them in my introduction to the coursework as they are both pioneers of the genre.
“Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle both significant and relevant to history and historical events and everyday life.”
Documentary photography is a form of storytelling, usually with one powerful photograph and deeper meaning which often moves people. This form of photography is used to ‘document’ events and people in everyday real life situations which in the past has been used to bring the attention of an audience to a particular subject, change their perspective and create a social change for example: a photograph taken by Nick Ut in Vietnam in 1972 of children running from a bomb explosion caused outraged protests in America and changed the outcome of the war. Views on documentary photography are controversial as some people believe that certain situations should not be documented which also brings in social and political associations such as whether or not it is deemed ethical or moral to take these pictures and publish them.
A more recent example of documentary photography is a a photograph taken of a young refugee boy washed ashore aged 3 who was travelling into Europe from Syria. This photograph has been seen all over the world and has alarmed people about how serious the refugee crisis is, it has also incentivated people in power to take action to try and help these refugees. However on the other hand some people have a negative view on this photograph as they think it is disrespectful and shouldn’t have been taken.
“Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle both significant and relevant to history and historical events and everyday life.”
There are many similar branches of documentary photography such as social documentary photography, street photography, celebrity photography and photojournalism, however Documentary photography tends to follow a single topic or story in-depth over time, as opposed to photojournalism’s real-time coverage of breaking news and events. Documentary photography can capture and sustain public attention, and inform people about pressing social and human rights issues.
There are some photos which stand out as having made a difference in the world by showing the truth to people in a shocking way to make them change how they view certain situations.
The most recent and obvious example of this is being the photos of the Syrian Child, Aylan Kurdi, whose body was captured washed up on a Turkish beach. These photos have helped to shock people into seeing how extreme the current migrant crisis is and has made a lot of people realise that more needs to be done to help these people.
Another example being this photo of Marcy Borders which was taken as she was fleeing the World Trade Centre in the 9/11 disaster. This wan’t so much shocking people to realise they needed to do something more about a situation, but shocked them into seeing what it must have been like being in the buildings.
The title of our next topic is Faith Family and Community.
These titles are very interesting because they can be linked together in different ways.
Community is the widest of the three words, as both Faith and Family can be interpreted as being communities.
Faith can be something you’re brought into because of your Family and from having been to church when I was younger a lot, there was a very strong community of people who all knew each other and all had something in common.
Family is a different type of community in that most of the time you don’t get to choose to be in it.
Some people don’t have a normal sense of family community, for example, people who have to go through Foster care because they have lost the family they were born into or because their Family community isn’t accepting of them; However some of these people find new Families, who they choose, and who choose them, and some manage to find community within a family of others who are in the same position as them;
And for some Families, like in some Portuguese and Italian families, the community that their family holds is one of the most important things to them, and they celebrate having big families.
One thing which I am going to explore with this project is the buildings and places that bring these three things, Faith, Family and Community together. Faiths have religious places in which they congregate, Families have certain places where they may go every year as a tradition, or somewhere they see each other often. All together I think I will look at the places that bring Communities together, and look at the different kinds of communities there are.
The photos which I will be collecting have to contain these things:
Either are places with lots of people gathered, or where people would normally gather (e.g. a church on a Sunday or a church when its empty)
Can be places with strong Faith/Family/Community connections or without. (e.g. a church, where everyone is of the same faith vs a Plane, where people are all gathered together, but not necessarily of the same faith/family/community)
If you break it down into the basic meaning of the words, documentary is defined as a factual record. In fact, it’s very difficult to give it an exact meaning as photography in itself is a process of documentation. However, it has been previously described as the following: a genre, a traditions, a style, a movement and also as a practice.
Here are some pictures which I found to illustrate it:
In photography, the genre of documentary is crucial to capture real moments. The normal elements of composition that we should strive to include in a picture are not so much needed. It’s more about the meaning behind the image, rather than how it’s set-up.
Documentary photography demonstrates a story and can be taken over a various periods of time. Also, documentary images transmit a life long effect. Meanwhile, photojournalism is meant for short-lived moments and is normally published in magazines and news papers. Photojournalism only depicts what the certain viewers, or in this case, what the writers, of a news paper believe to be the truth. It doesn’t explore the deepened subjects behind it. Here are some examples of the both:
Photojournalism example:
Zaatari Camp, in Jordan, run by UNHCR for refugees from war in Syria. Daily bread ration supplied by WFP. Photograph by James Nachtwey.
Documentary example:
Where am I? – by Yavuz Sariyildiz.
Documentary photography and Photojournalism are linked quite closely. The main difference is that documentary photography aims to tell a story over time and some pictures can be set-up. Whilst, photojournalism captures events from one time period and may take the photographs in such a way that it portrays something else, that perhaps is untruthful.
Documentary photography is designed to capture real life moments. Some images have the power to even change peoples points of view. A single picture can have create a stronger reaction than anything else. Many photographers use this medium because it can open people’s eyes. For example, recently there was a controversial news story, in which a three year old, Syrian boy washed up at shore. A Turkish photographer was at the beach when it happened and she decided to snap a picture. For some this was a shocking move. Many people questioned whether it was right for the picture to be taken, or whether she should of helped out the baby toddler first.
Here’s a link to one of the Syrian boys’ news stories: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/world/europe/syria-boy-drowning.html?smid=tw-share
The photograph was taken by Nilüfer Demir, a photographer working for the Turkish agency DHA.
For me, in this case, I probably would have taken the picture also. I think that she was trying to show the rest of the world the saddening moment and wanted to share how critically severe it was in an attempt to make a difference. And in result, when the pictures actually were released they affected many individuals.
Documentary photography first began in the early 19th century. A man named Jeremy Bentham was the first person to use it. Later on, a famous film maker called John Gierson used this word to describe a film and this is what prompted people to start using this term in visual arts. Meanwhile in France, during the mid 19th century, Eugene Atget described his work as ‘documents’. His work was mainly of buildings and empty streets. Also, in Denmark, a Danish reporter called Jacob A Riis, referred to his work in the same way. On the other hand, Riss’s work was focused on poverty in the slums during the 1880’s. And finally, the much later work of the American man Lewis Hine, that reflects a modern version of social work campaigns and child labour. Here are some examples of these three:
Jacob Riis example (Danish,1849-1914):
Jacob Riis – How The Other Half Lives.
Here’s a link to a website showcasing some of Riis photography: http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/4928
Eugene Atget example (French, 1857- 1927):
Eugene Atget – St. Gervais, Old Paris, 1900.
Informative link, with details on Atget’s life: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Eugene-Atget
Lewis Hine example (American, 1874-1940):
Lewis Hine
Here’s a link to an article on Lewis Hine’s work: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17673213
It first started to become a phenomenon when it began to appear in the 1920s when print technology was beginning to evolve. Most of these prints were placed in worldwide magazines. The main motive behind the magazines was to document a story. They included many different pictures which all portrayed different emotions and meanings. In result, it inspired the photojournalism movement to begin.
Documentary has a wide range of key words linked to it. It has many different approaches, styles and practices. There are also many different categories and types that apply to it. A few of these include: photojournalism, reportage, street photography and contemporary fine-art. Documentary photography can be used as a way of learning. For example, if you photograph political and moral values, you may start to comprehend the situation in a better manner. This genre can lead us to question many things. It may question you on your personal morality, and what you’d do if we were in that situation. It may also make you view places and people differently. For example, there could be rare sights shown in the photograph that show things you would normally not see.
This type of photography, in itself, is very controversial, especially with the word ‘documentary’. Some people argue that documentary photography is always set up, no matter how little you tamper with the situations. This is because a picture, in itself, is a documentation. The moment in which the camera snaps, a document is supposedly taken.
Many people use this genre to capture stories, which can be fictional or non-fictional. While other use it to capture performances. Just like the typical photographic styles, it can vary.
A very touching and famous example of this medium is as follows:
Taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
This is Glenn McDuffie, a former sailor which was famously featured as a part of this documentary photograph. At that moment, the photographer was able to capture the couples emotional kiss as they celebrated that Japan had surrendered. I believe that Eisenstaedt caught a very precious moment of love, which was later identified as being this man in the picture.
Nowadays, contemporary documentary photography still portrays a lot of meaning. However, one distinct characteristic is that, now the audience has more freedom to interpret individually. Whereas in the olden days, documentary pictures used to have a specific and driven meaning behind them. Contemporary photography is often set up in a series, it normally demonstrates a chronicle or account. The images can be a collection of various different genres, such as portraiture.
