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Help and Support, Mr T instruction

Standards and Ethics in documentary

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Contextual Study: Your first task is to describe the genre of documentary photography. In class last Friday we discussed a few issues around aesthetic, moral and ethical considerations when you are  depicting truth, recording life as it as and using your camera as a witness. We used current news images as case studies, such as the drowned Syrian boy (read article here) and to continue the debate I would like you to read the following articles when you are considering writing your response to the task on documentary photography.

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Visitors at the Visa Pour l’Image festival in Perpignan, France, where a searching debate about the ethics of photojournalism is unfolding.

Currently, the International Festival of Photojournalism, Visa Pour L’Image is in Perpignan (South France) where a debate about ‘Standards and Ethics’ in photojournalism is raging. Here is an article published in New York Times yesterday which features different views on how much manipulation is acceptable in making images when you consider yourself a photojournalist. The debate is between staged photography and photojournalism claim to only bear witness.

Task 1: Read the article carefully, especially the views expressed by festival director, Jean-François Leroy, Lars Boering, Managing Director of World Press Photo and Canadian documentary photographer, Donald Webber who served as the chairman judging the Documentary section at the contest earlier in 2015. Consider the questions below and write a paragraph or two where you try and include direct quotes from the article and comment in your own words as a response. For further context, make sure you follow hyperlinks in the article to take you to other sites and comments.

Q1: Who sets the boundaries of what defines photojournalism?
Q2: When technology makes it so easy to manipulate images, how much manipulation is acceptable?
Q3: With viewers more sophisticated and skeptical than ever before, how can photojournalists preserve their integrity and maintain trust?

Link to NPPA (National Press Photographer’s Association) Code of Ethics. Compare views expressed in the article above with these.

Link to article about the photographer who took the photos of the dead Syrian boy where she speaks about why she took them.

Link to Visa Pour L’Image Festival website

Link to World Press Photo

Link to video where Donald Webber discusses judging images in last year’s World Press Photo contest

Link to article about controversial images made by Giovanni Trioli at this years World Press Photo context

Link to Giovanni Trioli’s website

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A photograph that was part of a winning package at the World Press Photo awards. The image, of an intimate scene in Charleroi, Belgium, came under scrutiny over whether it broke contest rules. Credit Giovanni Troil
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From La Ville Noire by Giovanni Troil

Last week we also discussed if photographs can change the world. Again we looked at a few examples, notably Nick Ut’s famous image from the Vietnam War.

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Vietnam Napalm 1972 South Vietnamese forces follow after terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong

Task 2: Consider if photographs can change the world or change people’s perception? Here is a a blog post by photographer and lecturer, Lewis Bush where he discuss the above in light of recent images of dead Syrian refugees in Europe. Include quotes in your answer.

Click here http://www.disphotic.com/photographs-wont-change-the-world/

photographs-wont-change-the-world

 

Research

Street Photography

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Street photography is simply photography featuring the human condition within public places. I think this kind of documentary photography is very raw and something that a lot of people enjoy doing nowadays. This is the movement in which the photographer isn’t trying to send out a message about one form of society that needs to be changed but is simply documenting the world around them, showing the rest of the world what their own personal world looks like. I think street photography is the documentation of the people. We often forget about ourselves as communities when looking at the news seeing famine and crisis in other parts of the world as well as being hypnotised by the celebrity world. Our regular lifestyles are going to be the ones that the people of generations to come are going to focus on and look into.
Street photography is all about the timing and capturing people and places in its greatest form. It is less news and more everyday average life. These photographers tend to capture elements of peoples days that we would often overlook or not even think about. I like this style of photography as it shows that normal people are just as interesting as those of the celebrity world and that sometimes they can be even more interesting than those who are constantly in the tabloids and always camera ready. Here photographers are able to capture the most raw images of real people, some not even noticing the camera as they go about their lives. They can capture a person unexpectedly, like when we wonder we come across new people often unexpectedly. I think that street photographers simply photograph the usual elements of life that we see everyday and ignore. Here many amazing images can be produced.

I like to take photos of public spaces and put them on my social media sights. I do this as a way of remembering how my world was at this point in my life. I like to capture different people in my shots and to reflect on them and see what kind of people I’ve captured in my images, business people, parents, teenagers, tourists, children etc. Here are some of my own images that I have taken for my social media.

Planning

Documentry Photography: Initial Response

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Documentary is the recording of observations through film, media, writing and other artistic means. It has been used throughout centuries for many different purposes, ranging from caveman making artistic sketches on cave walls, to the documentation of the most important and significant political events of the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Documentary Photography is the process of making such observations using still image. The photographer (or photojournalist’s) intention is the create a narrative of their experiences and observations. Documentary photography in my opinion is all about conveying a story, whether that be through a series of images that structure a narrative, or through a single image that captivates a powerful message. On the other hand though, it could be argued that all photography is technically documentary, because the act of capturing light is in itself an document of reality.

Images like this, capturing the first contact between two individuals of the same fractured nation, separated by 40 years of cold war, symbolizes the immense power that photography has as a means to document humanity at it’s most powerful extremes. The accidental blur of this image captures the moment in it’s most spontaneous essence, a moment in time with a sense of movement which symbolizes and expresses Germany’s desire to move forward.

 

Robert Frank’s, ‘The Americans’ is seen as arguably the most influential body of documentary photography

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Robert Capa’s iconic photographs of WWII are seen as a benchmark for modern War photographers.

The role of a documentary photography is to express through the image, a particular moment  visualizing the message which the photographer is attempting to convey. Their images reflect their view of the world and society, either subjectively or objectively. The war photographer Robert Capa for example, would deliberately photograph harrowing, grotesque images of pain and death in order to shock the audience and express his ant-war stance. In contrast, Swizz photographer Robert Frank, greatly renowned for his candid photo-book series, ‘The Americans’, photographs far more objectively, basing his work on chance and from a fresh, outsider perspective. Photographs which do not explicitly state any particular mood, idea or emotion.

This image, taken by photojournalist Nilufer Demir earlier this week of the tragic discovery of a dead Syrian boy on a beach in Turkey. This extremely harrowing image emphasizes the important question that many Documentary photographer face concerning ethics and morality. Morally, is it acceptable to photograph a dead child? The fact the this photographer will now profit greatly from this devastating and tragic circumstance is a very controversial issue which has angered very many people. On the other hand, do photographers in fact have a moral duty to document such events, as a way of communicating truth to the rest of the world?

Research

Photojournalist: Robert Capa

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Robert Capa was a Hungarian war photographer [photojournalist]. He covered five wars; the Spanish civil war, the Second Sino-Japanese war, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the First Indochina war. Capa died while capturing images during the First Indochina war after stepping on a landmine, in 1954.

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Robert Capa

“It’s not always easy to stand aside and be unable to do anything except record the sufferings around one” – Robert Capa

Robert Capa’s archive:  http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL535353

News article of Robert Capa: http://www.vanityfair.com/unchanged/2014/06/photographer-robert-capa-d-day

Robert Capa was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos and the International Centre of Photography. I think that Capa was a risk taker and did so to make the best, most inspiring images possible. One of his most iconic images came from the D-day landings, this image is one that inspired Steven Spielberg to make Saving Private Ryan. All of the images Capa took on the day of the D-day landing in France, June 6 1944, were almost ruined as the editor of the paper wanted them developed as quickly as possible. The photos that weren’t destroyed became some of the most iconic images from World War II. These images were slightly smudged and blurred but to me these look more raw and real as if the photographer was running in on the action and getting out of the way. I like the way this image looks as it gives you a sense of how fast pace the action is down at the war front that not even the photographer can stand still for a second to capture a photograph, he too has to remain on the move. capa_beachI like this image as it shows one soldier clambering his way through the blood covered waters in an attempt to make it to shore and fight the enemy lines. This image shows the rest of the world what soldiers actually went through during the war and how tough it was to fight and how easy it was to lose your life. The soldier in the centre of this photograph looks very serious and in the zone as if he is ready to fight for his country and to protect those he is fighting for.  The barriers in the background show some soldiers hiding behind them, trying to avoid bullets. Sometimes I feel that we are numb to the struggle that soldiers went through during the war, we forget how many of them lost their lives and how many of them barely survived. We forget that they are not only left with physical scares but also mental ones too. This image makes you remember, it makes the spectator believe every moment and allows them to remember the kind of tragedies that they went through every second of the war. Not only did innocent people die, but there were actually people willing to risk their own lives and happiness to defend their country to make a stop to the madness which was uncovered during World War II.

Research

Documentary Photography: Photojournalism

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A photojournalist is a person who makes images to illustrate news reports, to tell more of the story. This is an effective method as viewers often take in more visual images rather than just being told about what is going on in the world. To me photojournalism is the realest kind of photography, which is true. We often hear stories and think nothing of them until the hard-hitting truth sets in when images are revealed to the world through social media and tabloids. I think our modern world really benefits from photojournalists as it is not only a way of documenting our current world but it makes spectators reevaluate their lives, making them want change and thinking more carefully about certain situations. Photojournalists tend to get more up close and personal with others than any of us would feel uncomfortable doing. They not only tell the story but they become apart of it. By documenting the goings-on around the world, they are making history and publishing it. Growing up we were all told horror stories and we would believe that there were witches hiding underneath our beds waiting for us to get into bed and back then we would believe every word, scared of being taken by that witch. But for some reason as we grow older and get told real horror stories of goings-on in places like South Africa, Syria and former Yugoslavia yet we tent not to believe these stories until we can somehow see it with our own eyes. There is limited amounts of trust with the great powers of the world, only when images are reported and citizens of these countries speak out in disgust and outrage will these great powers begin to think about change. I believe that photojournalism is a very powerful thing and can make thousands, if not millions, of people all over the world stop living in their own little bubbles and reach out to try and help others.

A lot of photojournalist images are really hard-hitting, which they need to be nowadays for people to actually want change. I think that this aspect of photography is very important. Photojournalists aren’t there for self gain and to make a great photo, they are there to make an image that makes the rest of the world stop and think. In order for change to happen, we need proof that it’s actually been happening.

Photojournalism can be a tough job as sometimes there are moments of extreme distress and moments when you just aren’t sure whether to intervene or to make the image. It’s a tough decision to make and much criticism can follow but without these images we as a first world society would be unaware of the goings-on across the world. We wouldn’t know what people were doing to others and we wouldn’t know that we are just sitting around and letting it happen.
In recent events on the Syria refugees trying to flee the country to get to Germany on tiny boats and rough/risky means of transport. The world saw an image arise of a small boy [toddler] washed ashore. The small boy had fallen of the already tiny and overcrowded boat and was drowned. This image has had mass impact pushing the British government to make changes and to try and help these innocent people. When I first saw this image I got very upset, seeing such a small innocent little boy lying on the cold wet sand, lifeless. I could not understand how terrorists [ISIS] could actually do such a thing as to scare people out of their own country and for an innocent child to lose his life, not even old enough to understand what is going on and why he can’t sleep in his own bed. This boy had barely lived a life, he was most likely just running around and starting to make small sentences to communicate with his family. This is why it is important for photojournalists to photograph these events. We need to see these images in order to make us think differently and to make us want to help out. I myself didn’t really know much about the refugee situation until I saw this image of the little boy. These images almost don’t seem real to me as I hate to think that something like this could actually be happening in our supposedly modern and civilised world.

Another iconic image from a photojournalist is the one below of a little girl, starving being stalked by a vulture. This image was made in 1993, taken by Kevin Carter a South African photojournalist. This photographer received so much hatred from this one image, he was tormented and tortured by the things he had seen on his travels as a photographer and committed suicide months after this image was made. Part of his suicide note reads:

“I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain … of starving or wounded children” – Kevin Carter, extract of suicide note

kevin-carter-vulture

 

There have been so many iconic images in history that have stood out and actually sparked change. These images are the ones that will be remembered and kept for future centuries to come and our new generations will reflect on these as historical events with no one left who actually lived through these events. I hope that in the future these images will just be horror stories that are told as a memorial for all those who lost their lives in these events and for our future generations to try and make peace with one another and to stop these fatal events from happening. I know that there will never be a time where we have complete peace across the world but maybe human nature will become less destructive.

 

Analysis, Evaluation, Research

Documentary photography

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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. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit.

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Opinions on documentary photography are very controversial as they can be perceived differently by all. Most people have a view of it as inhumane to capture images of scenes and events when they could be helping. therefore photographers get negative backlash from images.

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http://niemanreports.org/wp-content/uploads/pod-assets/Image/Nieman%20Reports/Images%20by%20Issue/Fall%202001/28p056.jpg

For example in Mongolia 1996  Captured street children in Ulan Bator, Mongolia’s capital, are hosed down before being put into a youth detention center. in the link above shows an image  of a tiny child cowers against a cold wall, awaiting his violent shower. Cropping within the viewfinder helps to show how small and frail the boy is in relation to his environment. He is the main subject. But to the side, in a watery light, another boy looks into the lens, judging me or you and seeming to ask if we have the right or the guts to stare. He is ghostly, making his presence all the more ethereal.

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There is a refugee crisis in Europe, a young child was washed up on the beach after trying to reach Europe from north Africa. The image is being shown all around the world, however some people have a negative view on the picture as the photographer is obviously just stood watching the event and just taking pictures and offering no help.

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This is the link to the image as pictures are not uploading to the blog – https://www.google.com/search?q=boy+washed+up+on+beach&safe=strict&es_sm=122&biw=1280&bih=855&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_AUoA2oVChMIooHI07HdxwIVTAnbCh0QsAIt

Mr T instruction

Explore theme of Family

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Objective: Explore theme of Family in Documentary Photography

Blog: Produce a number of posts that show evidence of the following:

1. Contextual study: Describe the genre of documentary photography and illustrate with examples – make a moodboard. Try and elaborate on associated sub-genres such as photojournalism and street photography as well as comment on documentary’s central aesthetic, political and moral associations, such as depicting truth, recording life as it is and camera as a witness. See my blog post Standards and Ethics for more details.

American photographer Alec Soth on his approach in photography

Here is a link to Alec Soth website: http://alecsoth.com/photography/

Interview with Alec Soth in the British Journal of Photography

Photographer Rob Hornstra on documentary, story-telling and slow journalism

Rob Hornstra and writer Arnold van Bruggen spend five years working in the Sochi Region where the 2014 Winter Olympics where held. Here is a link to The Sochi Project

British documentary photographer Chloe Dewe-Matthews

Her website http://www.chloedewemathews.com

Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson on being a documentary photographer

Link to his work and profile on Magnum and his website

2. Artists references: Select at least two photographers who are exploring the theme of family in their work. Select body of works/ personal projects and analyse images in terms of style, form, approach, subject-matter, aesthetics, meaning and what story/message the photographer is trying to communicate.

For example look at the work of photographers such as: Richard Billingham (Ray’s a Laugh), Larry Sultan (Pictures from Home), Nan Goldin (The Ballad of Sexual Dependency),  Sam Harris (The Middle of Somewhere), Yury Toroptsov (Deleted Scene, The House of Baba Yaga), Elinor Carucci, Jo Spence, Nick Waplington (Living Room) Wendy Evald (This is where we live), Inaki Domingo (Ser Sangre), Dragana Jurisic (YU: the Lost Country), Diana Markosian (Inventing My Father), Mitch Epstein (Family Business), Nicholas Nixon (the Brown Sisters), Stephen Gill (Hackney Kisses), David Spero (Tinkers Bubble), Tina Barney (Friends & Family), LaToya Ruby Frazier (The Notion of Family), Sian Davey (Looking for Alice), Jen Davis (Eleven Years), Corinne Day (Diary), Thomas Sauvin (Beijing Silvermine), Rachel Glass (The Domestic Aviary) Mariela Sancari (Moises), Ron Haviv (Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal) Jowhara Alsaud (Heir/Loom), Alexandra Davies, Arno Brignon, Mateusz Sarello (Swell), Sean Lee (Shauna), Maria Kapajeva, Alfonso Almendros (Family Reflections),  Andrei Nacu, Laia Abril (The Epilogue), Rita Puig-Serra Costa (Where Mimosa Bloom), Philip Toledano (Days with my Father, When I was Six), Cyril Costilhes (Grand Circle Diego), Tiago Casanova (Pearl), Ahmet Unver (Far Away)

See this folder with artist that exhibited as part of Guernsey Photography Festival 2014

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Here are a few videos:

In this clip Sam Harris talking about his new book In the Middle of Somewhere which are following his family life over a 12 year period

http://samharrisphoto.com/610218/video-at-home-with-sam/

For the last 12 years, American photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier has photographed friends, neighbors and family in Braddock, Pennsylvania. But though the steel town has lately been hailed as a posterchild of “rustbelt revitalization,” Frazier’s pictures tell a different story, of the real impact of inequality and environmental toxicity. In this short, powerful talk, the TED Fellow shares a deeply personal glimpse of an often-unseen world.

Here Yury Toroptsov talks about the 3 storylines that are interweaved in his new work and book Deleted Scene. Link to his website

Link to his website

YU: the lost country by Dragana Jurisic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saArOK8bZEo

Link to the story on her website:

Review of her book by Sean O’Hagan, Photography Critic at the Guardian

Mateusz Sarello book about a broken relationship and lost love  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83dlkxmoBoM 

link to Cyril Costilhes website http://sikost-photography.com/index.php?/123451234/

https://vimeo.com/112548100

Richard Billingham interviewed about his  seminal work Ray’s A Laugh

Interview with Richard Billingham in the Telegraph Newspaper 

3. Photo-Assignment 1: Explore the theme of Family and make a set of 5 images/ or a 3 min film

You can explore your own family as an insiders point of view, or you can choose to photograph someone else’s family as an outsider. This could include extended family such as grandparents, uncle & aunties etc. Your photographs can show an everyday family event e.g. breakfast, dinner, watching TV, playing games, private moments, social interaction etc. You can also choose to follow one person and record their life in private and how they interact with other family members. Or, make a set of portraits of each member of your family. The rules are that you must make images within the confines of your family home, this can both inside and outside,. Think about making a number of different shots, portraits (formal/informal, environmental), still-life (interiors, personal objects), landscape (house, garden etc) Explore different ways of framing shots using wide-angle and standard lens, explore different angles and points of view (low, high, canted, straight on). Remember to adjust camera settings and exposure for different lighting conditions.

4. Editing/evaluation: Upload pictures from photo-shoot and process in Lightroom. Put contact sheets and edited best prints in your blog. Annotate and evaluate pictures.

  1. Presentation: Print out your set of 5 images and present in class for a group crit (Mon 14th Sept)
Mr T instruction

Autumn Planner

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“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

Robert Capa, photojournalist. Hungarian (1913-54)

Welcome back after Summer Break!

In the A2 coursework module this term you are going to explore Documentary and Narrative in photography. The aim of this module is to combine your knowledge and skills of portraiture and landscape to produce pictures which are telling a story of people in the environment based around your chosen theme of FAITH, FAMILY & COMMUNITY

Click here to get full overview of the module and what you are required to do this term. Read first 22 slides:

Planner Autumn 2015

This module will explore different approaches to story-telling across different genres such as contemporary documentary, tableaux photography, photojournalism and street photography,

This unit requires you to produce a workbook with research, analysis, photographic responses, experimentation and make a number of final outcomes, such as designing a photo book, newspaper/magazine double-page spread, podcast/ film and final prints, .

 

 

 

Research

Manifesto:

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A manifesto is a declaration of rules. This is a list of my aims for my photography projects. This applies to my previous and current projects which I’m working on:

Rule number one: Capture moments spontaneously. Live in the moment and don’t think too much about it. This relates to ‘Chance’. When opportunity strikes, take it.

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Rule number two: Show the different stages of progression. Show the changes over time and the subtle moments. This applies to ‘Change’.

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Rule number three: Do something you’ve never tried before. Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to push the limits. This conforms with ‘Challenge’. Being scared will only set you back and stop you from finding more creative means of exploration.

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Rule number four: Photograph the imperfections. Include harsh angles or strange compositions to unbalance the picture. Break the rules. Train your eye to see differently.

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Rule number five: Give a purpose to things. Always try and give off a meaning, whether it’s hidden or easily spotted. Create a story.

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Rule number six: Reflect the truth. Show it in the eyes. Demonstrate passion and release your emotions.

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Mr T instruction, Research

Tableau Photographer: David Hilliard

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A photographer that I came across while researching tableau photography was the tableau photographer David Hilliard. He was born in 1964 and is American. He is a fine arts photographer, mainly known for his panoramic photographs. Taking inspiration from his personal life he creates great images of his natural surroundings. Most of his scenes are staged, mixing with fact and fiction.

David Hilliard’s website: http://www.davidhilliard.com

I found Hilliard’s images very interesting because of the panoramic style which is unique. I think that I will respond to some of these images creating my own scenarios while following the panoramic idea. I like that there are white lines separating the single image into a series of three almost. This gives the spectator more to look at and makes for a more interesting photograph. The images could have been taken each individually and then put together during the editing process but I think that it would be more likely that a single image was taken and the white lines were added in afterwards. Something about the lines really draws the spectator into the image and makes you focus in on the central part of the image first and then allowing your eyes to wonder round the background of the image and take everything in individually.

814This is one of my favourite images of Hilliard’s as I really like when photographers use the ocean as a means of the background of their images. I think the blue of the ocean really stands out and, to me, is very therapeutic and calming which is what the young boy seems to be too. The young boy on the right hand side of the image almost looks fed up, as if he’s been trying to jump in and capture the boat but every time something is pulling him back and he just can’t reach out and grab it, tiring him out. The boy on the left hand side looking back at the boy as he pushes off with his paddle looks confused possibly, as if he was waiting for his friend to come and join him on the boat and doesn’t understand why he didn’t get on it. It almost looks as if there is only one person in this image, possibly linking to surrealism as if in a dream-like state. He can’t catch up with himself and feels lost deep down. That is what I took from the image from first look at it. I like that tableau photography can do this, it allows every spectator to interpret the image and look at it in whatever way they like. I think this allows the spectator to actively engage with the art and opens up for discussion too.