I thought that before my departure to Poland, I could write a few words about a book that I recently managed to get my hands on. 'War Porn' by Christoph Bangert is a very risky, yet very interesting concept. It is nothing more than a social experiment, which challenges the viewer by questioning what would happen if the most brutal images from various conflicts around the globe were to be put together into a one book and without any suppression of a censorship.
Christoph Bangert is a known German war photographer. Building on his personal experience he decided to publish 'War Porn'. Subjected to some form of censorship (often -self) from the early age, starting with his Nazi grandfather who would hide the real facts of the Second World War, he decided to come up with a project which would abolish any type of a publishing restriction.
'War Porn' is a small book, that easily fits into the palm of your hand. Its raw and basic finish
introduces the viewer into its raw and basic content. Nothing is altered, edited, hidden away for any sort of purpose. The book is graphic, shocking, certainly not all would feel comfortable even holding it. In a way we are faced with our biggest fears, images that we often try to avoid or pretend their lack of existence.
I suppose the biggest risk of such experiment is that we may just get used to such graphic images and perhaps fall into the heartless attitude where we simply generalise all violence and forget how to correctly react to such brutality. I'd like to hope that a normally behaved, good human being cannot be altered by anything even the great amount of uncensored images or footage. A fully shaped and formed adult should be able to face the reality in all forms and seeing such images should only provoke some positive proactive reactions. Anyway, just to be on the safe side, my copy lives under a glass cloche, so all viewings are fully informed.
Documentary photography is a very broad field. It covers multiple sub genres varying from portraiture, social documentary, documentary landscape to photojournalism (often defined as a separate genre due to some differences between the two). In this entry I will attempt to cover the main sub genres of documentary photography and support them with the examples of the most prominent photographers and their photographs.
1. PHOTOJOURNALISM
Very often defined as a separate genre characterising with such crucial values as timeliness and objectivity. I have always been a great fan of photojournalism and especially the conflict side of the genre. The thrill of the conflict zone as well as the possibility to capture some of the most important events in history have always attracted my attention.
PHOTOGRAPHERS Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004)- considered to be the father of photojournalism, as well as a great contributor in street photography and life reportage. The co-founder of Magnum photos and a creator of the phrase 'decisive moment', which today many photographers live by.
Larry Burrows (29 May 1926 - 10 February 1971) - known especially for his (mainly) colour photographs of the Vietnam War, a conflict, which he covered in great detail. Burrows had complete freedom to photograph the Vietnam War, not being restricted by a typical monitoring involved in a coverage of a modern conflict. Burros tragically lost his life to the war, but the work he left behind is the most complete photographic record of the Vietnam War.
Robert Capa (October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) - known for his heroism and romanticism. He famously said 'If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough'. He took some of the most iconic war images of 20th century, covering 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. Like many conflict photographers he lost his life in a war zone.
Don McCullin (9 October 1935) - famously named by Cartier Bresson 'Goya with a camera'. His images characterise with a great humanist concern. McCulliun skilfully involves the viewer in his very melancholic, almost pictorial at times work.
more to follow ..................... (I shall be back to the full time time study at the end of the month, after my return from Poland)
1. SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY
"Social documentary photography is the recording of humans in their natural condition with a camera."[Wikipedia] For me, without a doubt the most attractive of all sub-genres of documentary photography, as it allows a deep look into ones lives. I must underline that many photojournalists would often double up as social documentary photographers, with such examples as Henri Cartier-Breson, or Don McCullin.
Social documentary photography took its current shape through the photographic practice of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which employed photographers and writers to report and document the difficult lives of struggling farmers. The photographers of the project included such names as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. The genre however began as early as in 19th century and it concentrated on documenting the living conditions of the lower classes.
In England - the birth place of social documentary such photographers as Henry Mayhew or Thomas Annan would document the difficult lives of the working class and picture underprivileged streets, whilst in the US Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine used the camera as "an instrument of accusation against social injustice" [Wikipedia]. The subject of immigrants was also widely covered.
The post war era brought us such prominent names as Diane Arbus, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Frank or Mary Ellen Frank. Social documentary photography has been widely accepted by the art world since the 1970s.
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Diane Arbus (March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971)- an American photographer known especially for her haunting images of 'deviant and marginal people' [Wikipedia]. Her deeply analytical imaginary of the odd looking is always very surreal, quite disturbing almost. Diane Arbus took her own life in 1971, soon after she reportedly said "What if I am no longer a photographer?"
Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) - an American photographer, known especially for his depression era photography. In 1938 he photographed passengers on the New York City Subway with the specially devised camera hidden in his large overcoat. His subjects were completely unaware of being photographed. In the last few of his life Walker photographed with a Polaroid SX-70 concentrating mainly on street signage, being one of my personal favourite.
According to various sources and quoting here answers.com - In the broadest sense, all photography not intended purely as a means of artistic expression might be considered ‘documentary’, the photograph a visual document of an event, place, object, or person, providing evidence of a moment in time.... The Life Library's Documentary Photography (1972) defined it as ‘a depiction of the real world by a photographer whose intent is to communicate something of importance—to make a comment—that will be understood by the viewer’.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/documentary-photography-1#ixzz3CqhltCvF
Miranda Gavin in her interview attempts to answer the same question – ‘What is documentary photography’. I say ‘attempts’ not at all to underline the clumsiness of the answer, but to simply state the fact that the plain ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response is not possible.
We are first given an inside into some vital changes in modern documentary photography, i.e. the recent introduction of a popular digital platform, allowing both, easier access and much quicker delivery. We must not forget that only 70 years ago a clumsy darkroom technician destroyed almost all, but eleven photographs of the D Day landing taken by Robert Capa. Today with the access to digital technology such accidents can be easily avoided. The simplicity of digital is encouraging, it creates faster availability and attracts more attention from both, the viewer and the photographer.
The second important recent change is the increased number of woman taking on documentary photography. This in effect reroutes the genre, perhaps more towards the feminist and family orientated topics?
Lastly and most importantly the issue of a clear separation from the art movement is lifted. I think if we have such prominent name as the interviewee underlining the constant struggle of an editor attempting to categorize a photograph we must ask ourselves how to deal with the issue personally. Miranda Gavin talks about the need of often turning to the photographer in order to get the clear answer. I believe that anything that has not been manipulated in order to express an artistic vision of a photographer can be called a document (perhaps not an objective document, because I do not believe that such thing is possible – more on this later in the course, I’m sure?!?) and it purely depends of a photographer if he wishes to categorize it as a documentary photograph.
Friday 5 September 2014
I will be officially starting with OCA tomorrow afternoon. The materials seem very interesting and I really look forward to cracking on with the exercises. In fact, Assignment number one sounds really fascinating, it aims to picture the 'engagement with lives, experiences and histories of local community and its people'. As I have no such thing as any sort of engagement with my surroundings I will have to concentrate on capturing the lack of it. I shall be portraying an experience of a passive observer. Alderney is my prison, an exile and if I need to deliver an honest account of my engagement with my surroundings it will be that of a stranger living in a foreign land and against its will.
Moving onto a more positive subject, I have today received a new 'best friend'. A beautiful 23mm f1.4 Fujinon wide angle lens, which I simply cannot fault. I am hoping that paired with my X-Pro1 it will get me through the most of my Documentary module. A simply stunning performer, super fast and with a beautiful bokeh. I attach some straight from the camera test photos taken earlier today.
