An article by Lewis Bush called ‘ Eight ‘rules’ of photography that are worth breaking ‘ explains how breaking the rules of photography can be extremely beneficial. Within the article he talks about how breaking the rules can be a new way of seeing the world and how real stories of our time aren’t always plain to see. He follows on from this to say that the most interesting concepts are not clearly visible and to gather what we really want to see, photographers have to break the rules and push the boundaries.

Bush talks about a photographer called William Eugene Smith who is an American photojournalist, very dedicated to his projects.  In 1955, the 36-year-old photographer traveled to Pittsburgh on what was meant to be a three-week assignment, but which became a year-long ‘amphetamine-fuelled photographic binge’. He came away with 17,000 images and then later relocated to Japan, documenting the consequences of devastating industrial pollution. In the process he faced extreme violence from the people he exposed and became very involved with some of the people he was photographing. He was, in the words of one writer, “the man who tried to document everything”. Despite breaking nearly every photographic rule, Smith was one a very successful photographer and gained a well deserved place in photographic history. Some of these rules broken includes, posing his subjects, manipulating his prints, and often becoming dangerously over-involved in his stories. When asked by one interviewer why he so persistently ignored many of the fundamental factors and rules of documentary photography, he said “I didn’t write the rules – why should I follow them?”

During his successful photographic career, Smith broke nearly every rule there was in photography. Some of these included, posing his subjects, manipulating his prints and becoming dangerously involved in his stories. When people questioned him to why he broke the rules he said, “I didn’t write them- why should I follow them?”  Smith proved that successful photographers can break the rules. Bush writes that many rules restrict the medium, “serve vested interests and prevent photographers from revealing the critical issues that are shaping our modern world.”  Here are some images by Smith.

There are the eight rules that Bush talks about. The rule of Objectivity, the rule of Audience, The rule of Manipulation, The rule of Reality, The rule of Technicality, The rule of ownership, The rule of the camera and the Rule of rule breaking. The rule that I will be exploring the rule of manipulation.

This rule is about the way that photographers are forbidden from using digital editing to manipulate the meaning of their images. The purpose of this rule is to provide truthful stories that can be trusted.  Steve McCurry, a long-revered photojournalist, was revealed in 2016 to have been exhibiting and selling prints which had been heavily manipulated to remove elements. Responding to the uproar, McCurry quickly claimed that he was in fact “not a photojournalist”. Bush suggests that almost every stage of the photographic process is a manipulation, and is open to no less shocking misrepresentations. A documentary filmmaker Errol Morris states that you don’t need to manipulate an image to mislead an audience; you simply need to change the caption. He also says that in the right context, manipulation can reveal truth. A Dutch photographer Alice Wielinga traveled to North Korea however found it significantlly difficult to capture the truth. She said “I felt that, with mere documenting, I wasn’t able to tell the story as I was experiencing it”. Her response was to digitally merge her photographs of official North Korea propaganda with her own images of workers and decaying factories.

In an article by photographer Lewis Bush  Eight ‘rules’ of photography that are worth breaking he says how he thinks that breaking the so called ‘rules of photography’ can be extremely useful and can lead photographers to achieve their full potential. The article suggest that by breaking the rules our are able to see the world in a new perspective and that the stories of our time are not always clear to see. 

Bush explains the ideas of William Eugene Smith Smith is an American Photojournalist who is extremely dedicated to his projects. In 1955 Smith traveled to Pittsburgh on what was meant to be a three week assignment, however turned into a year long ‘photographic binge.’ He came away with over 17,000 images. He famously quoted this phrase: “I didn’t write the rules – why should I follow them?” allowing him to follow his own rules and principles to follow without others setting them for everyone to follow. If rules weren’t broken then many pieces of art, photography and media would not be around. Rule breaking allows to create new, innovative and niche process when taking photography. 

Alice Wielinga born 1981 in the Netherlands  graduated from the School of Fine Arts, as a documentary photographer. With North Korea, a Life Between Propaganda and Reality, she won the Photo Folio Review at the Rencontres d’Arles 2014 and the first prize at the Fine Art section of the Moscow International Foto Award in 2015.Her personal projects have taken her from China to Cuba and recently to Pakistan.

In 2013 she started to pursue a project on North Korea. The country fascinated her for over a decade. She wanted to learn what happened inside North Korea, which seemed a bag black hole on the world map.  Where was the story on the 24 million people who live there. How does it feel to live in North Korea? And how will it be possible to convey that in a visible story?

When in Korea she found it incredibly hard to truly document the true side of Korea. “I felt that, with mere documenting, I wasn’t able to tell the story as I was experiencing it,” Because she was not happy with her images, she decided to experiment with her images and digitally merge her images of official North Korea propaganda with her own images of the country and the life that the people lead inside the isolated country.  “I see propaganda and reality as two sides of the same coin,” she says. “Propaganda is an essential part of everyday life in North Korea, and because of that a reality in itself.” 

The Rule of Ownership

Rules of photography from article by Lewis Bush https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/eight-photography-rules-worth-breaking/

As a photographer, it can feel futile to keep adding to this visual blizzard, when so much can be said with those that already exist. The solution, for some, lies in a creative attitude to the old-fashioned idea of ownership and copyright.

For seven years the French collector Thomas Sauvin harvested film negatives from Beijing’s vast dump, buying them from specialist scavengers who recycle the negatives for the valuable silver they contain.

In his hunt, Sauvin has created an archive of a million images that offers a unique insight into a pivotal period in modern Chinese history, from the tail end of Mao’s cultural revolution, to the economic success story of modern China.

Belgian artist Mishka Henner, meanwhile, works with images he finds online to dissect the motivations and power of their original producers.

In 51 US Military Outposts, he uses satellite imagery of US military bases around the world to probe the extent of this modern American empire. His interest in these images, he says, lies in the fact that “the people who are running the show, that’s the stuff they’re working with.”