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.
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 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. I 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
This 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.
Tableau simply means staged. This is a type of documentary photography as the photographer may find the subjects in their natural environment but may ask them to pose in a certain way to make for a good photograph. It is the form of a ‘living picture’. Most photographers will use their own models who are carefully positioned and posed and can often be quite theatrical and staged in an attempt to create a meaning and bring across a message to the spectator looking at the images. Often props will be used as well as facial expressions. I like the idea of tableau photography as I am able to develop a story and bring in different characters for the spectator to interpret and view. I also like the idea that it is documenting the way people think. This can be more of a broad way of doing documentary photography but it does fit. Photographers are able to explore new things as well as make a visual documentation of the way our modern society thinks and the way some people feel within it. We are able to document the environment that we live in, in a more interesting way. Something that I have noticed in modern tableau photography is that everyone appears to be naked. Somehow I don’t think that I will be using this in my response to tableau photography just because I feel that there is no real need to be naked in images, I think that images are more effect in the art of telling a story through the emotion of the subject/character rather than the physical appearance of them.
Mary Ellen Mark was a 75 year old American photographer, who died in May 2015. She has had 18 collections throughout her career that have been published and is known for her street/documentary photography. A lot of her works are exhibited in galleries and museums all over the world.
The reason I chose to look at this artist was because she does street photography which I find very interesting. I like that she finds different people from the norm and embracing that takes a good photo of them. I think that I will keep the concept of candid photographs on the streets in one of my own ideas for this project. I like how all of her images are in black and white, early on in her career this will have been the only available filter to use but more recently I think it is used to add more character to the environment and the people who she is photographing. This allows the spectator to focus in on the people in the image rather than being drawn in by all of the different colours, distracting them from the possible meaning behind the images she creates. I believe that a lot of Ellen Mark’s work fits into the tableau category as a lot of the time the people are looking directly into the camera and with a neutral facial expression which Ellen Mark will have had to ask them to do. I do think that the people are genuine and she comes across all of these different people on the streets yet it does hold the element of tableau photography that I think a lot of photographers will use in documentary photographs to make it more hard hitting and to make it more personal for the spectator to really be looking into the eyes of the subject in the images.
After looking at a few pieces of Mary Ellen Mark’s work I discovered that she tends to make images of poorer people or those who seem troubled. For example there is one image where a small boy is sleeping in bed with his mother and father yet he is wide awake and looks crapped in the image. This shows that the family is poor and that they only have this one single mattress on the floor to share between the three of them and the boy is possibly troubled because maybe all he wants is his own space to grow and be happy. I feel like this young boy feels trapped by his parents but he can’t figure out a way to get out of it all and to escape into something better than the life he has with his parents. This could also be symbolic of how a lot of teenagers feel when they are finally growing into young adults but are still bombarded with pressure from their parents and still feel trapped under their wing even though they’ve been trying so hard to get away and create their own individual life. I like this image a lot because it really makes you appreciate what you have and allows the spectator to reflect a little on their own lives and the things we as humans always seem to take for granted, like having our own bed to sleep on each night.
This image creeps me out. I have no clue of what is going on in this image. I feel like the little girl really does not want to be there and is being held against her will by this freaky looking clown who is holding a gun! I just noticed that on his hat states ‘Captain America’, this could mean something. Captain America is a character from the Marvel comics. He is supposedly a hero who was frozen during the war and was to be brought back to life in the future to save America. Here the clown has a gun and looks as though he is casually aiming it towards the young girl, yet nothing seems forced. The little girl just looks as though she’s being in the photograph to please her parents and there is no real struggle. The clown looks extremely pleased with himself which creeps me out the most as I have no clue of what the motive of this image could actually be. Mary Ellen Mark could possibly be trying to say that this “Captain America” is just a stupid idea that would never work and that he would just become a clown for the government to play with and control. He would just follow orders and do as he was told no matter what the circumstance, hence the little girl possibly symbolising innocence. I really do not have a clue what is going on in this image and I think it is really random and difficult to figure out. Even though I did manage to create a possible meaning from this image I don’t think that it really has one. I think that this little girl was just at a circus with her family and the guy was dressed as the clown and then Mary Ellen Mark just asked them to sit together and she took this photograph, that is why he is not pressing her with the gun or holding onto her arm too tightly. They are just real people who were put into a real life situation together. The main thing I took from this was just a reminder of how much I dislike clowns.
An interview with Mary Ellen Mark:
Debatably one of the most famous photographs of the 21st century was hers of the ‘Migrant Mother’. This is a very powerful image that throughout the years has caused much controversy with the subject herself and the photographer.
This is Mary Ellen Mark’s most iconic image. Here the children look as if they want their faces to be covered, that they are possibly ashamed to be seen in the photograph. Whereas, the mother looks as though she has a lot on her mind and possibly battling whether or not it was a good idea to take her and her three children out of their country and migrate to another for safety. They are all very dirty looking, including the little baby that she is holding with her left arm. To me this image is very sad as if all the happiness in the world wasn’t anything compared to all the sadness. This image allows the spectator to take from it what they want as well as bringing across a strong message of how lucky we are to live in a safe place where we don’t have to run away in fear of civil war or attacks from the governments. It has been stirred that a reporter talked to the migrant mother who claimed that she didn’t actually want Ellen Mark to take the photograph of her yet she did it anyway. I feel like this is possibly true because why would a migrant want their photo all over America? She is trying to get away from all the drama of her own country she doesn’t need to start her new life with her children filled with drama of a new kind, being constantly bombarded with questions about how she felt in that image and what was going on at the time. This image really does make me thankful for the life I have, to not have to escape a country in order to keep safe.
Overall, I think Mary Ellen Mark has made many inspiring images that I want to try and follow in the footsteps of by possibly going to the streets and making images of people. I like the rawness of the images and having no plan until I am in a situation creating more spontaneous images rather than pre-planned and rehearsed ones.
Throughout summer I have been looking into our next topic, documentary photography. For this I wanted to find a way to bring in my own style and ideas without completely ignoring the original concept of documentary photography. To me documentary photography is simply taking photographs of a person’s everyday life, following them around and taking various action shots of all the elements of that person’s day. Documentation is an extremely popular media and I believe it to be something that we as humans have done for millions of years, even from the beginning when cave men made drawings on the stone walls, the carvings made by Egyptians to the stained-glass windows in churches. Documentation almost comes naturally to us. I believe that there is no perfect way to document something, however I do believe that documenting something visually is so much better than simply writing it down. I love watching videos diaries that people create and show the world from their perspective and those who document their day and what they have done. One YouTuber in particular that I really love is Jack Harries who has created a series of short documentary films as he travels the world and discovers new people and new places.
My favourite videos of his
The Rickshaw Run series:
24 hours in series:
The reason I love watching this style of film documentary is because it’s so real and exciting. I like seeing different cultures and people and being able to discover new places even if I am sat watching it over the internet and not actually being physically there. The way these videos are filmed are excellent as Harries created his own Steadicam from a first person perspective. He used a bike helmet, put two weights on the back and his Canon 6D on the front with a view finder too right in front of his face to create the most real reactions possible while seeing the world from his perspective. I really enjoy discovering different cultures and seeing different streets of the world without even having to spend any money at all. Visual documentary is a great thing and, I think, the best way to lock in mementos of our modern world for the future generations to come.
MEXICO. Oaxaca state. Tehuantepec. 1985. Children playing in a courtyard.
HAITI. Port-au-Prince. 1987. Fires set by anti-election provocateurs.
HAITI. Etroits, La Gonave. 1986.
MEXICO. Matamoros. Tamaulipas. 1978.
I find Webb’s images interesting as they are somewhat staged but also documentary. His images lean more towards the tableau side of photography as when he goes into a situation he gets real people and repositions them to make for a more interesting photograph.
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At first I struggled to come up with, what I thought was, an interesting idea. I thought that it would be challenging to come up with a concept and a meaning behind each photograph but then I realised that the whole concept behind this style of photography is not to have some amazingly moving concept or meaning, it is simply a way of remembering. A way to hold on to memories for longer than our minds could ever hold onto. I began to question how interesting ordinary people’s lives were, mainly my own. I thought that my life was very mundane and not worth the documentation but then I realised that we are all different and all unique and it would be very interesting to see how every ordinary person lives their private life. What actually makes us ‘ordinary’? I want to find something different, someone who stands out from the norm. This is when I realised that we are all very different the way we handle and approach things and I think that this alone could be a really excellent exploration of documentary photography. I want to follow ordinary people throughout their day and see how each one of those people do things differently.
I believe that there is a set of ethics that photographers must follow from a humanitarian perspective. Each other their images must be true to its surroundings and not suggest something that is completely false. I think that photography can be very honest as photographers are able to express themselves through their work as well as in documentary photography, getting a true and real message across for the rest of the world to view. Photographers are able to manipulate events by only allowing the spectator to see what they want them to see. This can simply be zooming more into the environment only just allowing what the photographer wants their spectator to see. There has been debates between staged photography and the photojournalists methods of only bare witness. I like both methods and think that as long as the situation isn’t completely fabricated and manipulated to make a person, town or country look bad then I think it is fine to ask your found subjects to stand in certain places in order for the photographer to make the best photo possible. sometimes I think it all depends on what is actually in the image itself, a lot of documentary/photojournalism photography do not focus on composition at all as what is actually going on in the image is the most important thing which is the message that the photographer is trying to get across.
Nowadays photographers have blogs and can share their images all across the internet as well as explaining the situation as background information on their individual blog. I think this is a very honest process and allows photojournalists to tell their side of the story and what was actually going on outside of the image that they took. This makes it easier to avoid backlash and inquiries into why the photographer took the photo instead of helping out in the situation.
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I think that nowadays we all think that only celebrities are worth looking at and that watching them living their ‘perfect’ lives will somehow make up for our very much mundane ones but here is where I think we as humans fail. We shouldn’t be continuously watching the lives of celebrities but we should focus on our own lives and living them the way we want to. I think that there is no such thing as the perfect life and no one on this earth is living it because obviously we all have our ups and downs. I will be exploring different versions of documentary photography including tableaux/staged photographs.
I also like that a lot of documentary photography is in black and white. This is done to make the images more shocking to the spectator and to really maintain focus on the people in the photograph as well as what kind of background the spectator might assume that they come from. I will use this method in a lot of my photographs as a lot of my ideas will look a whole lot better if produced in black and white, however I do have one big[ish] idea that I want to make in colour as I think it will be more interesting as well as keeping a record of the colours and fashions of the modern world.
Below are some images that I have looked at for inspiration –
There are different elements of documentary photography including tableaux photography. This comes from the documentary style but is more commonly known as staged photography. This is were the photographer may find the subjects in an area and re-position them to make for an interesting photograph or they could be completely staged and prepared to bring across a message to the spectator as well as documenting more serious issues of the modern world, for example feminism.
Tableau came from a French phrase meaning ‘living picture’. Here the subject will dress up, possibly using props, using appropriate backgrounds and poses in an attempt to re-stage past/original events. This style of art was going on long before photography came around as was done in paintings many years before. The 1970s saw the rise of a now famous photographer, Cindy Sherman who began to voice her own thoughts as women were now beginning to express themselves more freely in the public eye. I like this style of documentary photography as I am able to stage some interesting images as well as get across important morals that I believe in and I think this style of photography is a great way to make hard hitting images to start people talking and to open up people’s minds on subjects they may have never thought about in the past.
