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Documentary Photography Intro

Documentary photography tells true stories about people and places through images. It observes everyday life or important events in a way that educates viewers. Over time, documentary photography has brought awareness to social issues and helped create change. Photographers like Jacob Riis, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank and Diane Arbus expanded the genre by documenting struggles during wars and economic crises or giving voice to marginalized groups. Today, documentary photography continues sharing diverse human experiences through personal, in-depth stories captured by talented photographers around the world.

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4K views20 pages

Documentary Photography Intro

Documentary photography tells true stories about people and places through images. It observes everyday life or important events in a way that educates viewers. Over time, documentary photography has brought awareness to social issues and helped create change. Photographers like Jacob Riis, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank and Diane Arbus expanded the genre by documenting struggles during wars and economic crises or giving voice to marginalized groups. Today, documentary photography continues sharing diverse human experiences through personal, in-depth stories captured by talented photographers around the world.

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Documentary

photography
Introduction

Image by Martin Parr


What is
Documentary
photography?

Image by Bresson
• Photo documentary is a discipline in
photography that tells stories about a
place or an issue by observing and
photographing people in their
environment
What is • From historical events to everyday
life. From wide-angle photographs of
Documentary war to close-up snapshots of people on
photography? the street.
• Recording the world as it is
• A series of images telling a story
• Can include other genres, portrait,
street, landscape, photojournalism
What equipment
do you need?
Discuss
Henri Cartier Bresson

What equipment do
you need?

• The best camera is the one you have with


you Chase Jarvis (2009) ???
• Discretion is important, why?
• Small, lightweight, doesn’t draw
attention otherwise people will act
different
History of Documentary photography
19th Century
• In the first half of the nineteenth century photographers
documented events like the Crimean War and the Civil
War in the United States.
• They also joined exploratory expeditions to capture
faraway places, basically inventing the genre of
landscape photography.
• Toward the end of the century, some photographers
focused their cameras on ordinary people
• New York, newspaperman Jacob Riis - book of street
photography called How the Other Half Lives.
• His photos helped bring about new child labour laws and
better schools, proving social documentary photography
could affect social change.
Where did it begin?

Image of Crimean War by British


photographer Roger Fenton (1855)
Jacob Riis - How the Other Half Lives. (1890)
20th Century
History of Documentary photography
20th Century
• Twentieth-century documentarians expanded the field of study
• 1930s, American photographers Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans - the struggles
of migrant workers and sharecroppers during the Great Depression (research
"migrant mother")
• 1940s,French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson took photographs all over
Europe - he joined Robert Capa and other photographers in the founding of
Magnum Photos
• 1950s, Robert Frank, redefined what a photo book could be — personal, poetic,
real. His book was called The Americans (1958)
• 1960s/70s, photographer Diane Arbus used documentary photography to bring
representation to marginalised groups (included exotic dancers, nudists, carnival
performers, elderly people, children, mothers and members of the LGBTQ+
community)
Documentary
subjects?
• For almost two centuries,
documentary photography
has been a means for artists
to shine a light on injustice
and expand the circle of
concern to include all of
humanity.
• What subjects do you think
could be covered?
Story telling
“If there’s something you have questions about, other people probably
have questions about it. Pursue that and you might be
onto something,” Alexander Cohn

• In this interview, award-winning photographers Farn


and Am share about their recent ‘The Boat That
Moves Forward’ exhibition, how it started and their
reflections from it.
• https://youtu.be/omTyJy9pB_I
Documentary subjects?
But does need to be a subject of high importance or significance?
• What topics could a photo documentary be about?
• What would you choose to document, tell stories about, identify,
uncover, investigate?

• Make it personal, only you can tell that story!


Documentary stories • Huw Alden Davies – Scaffold to the Moon / Prince
only they can tell • Matthew Finn - Mother
Magnum
• What is Magnum Photos?
The Home Project
https://youtu.be/Aq1HDoW9-
kY
• People – who is it about?, who does it
affect?
What kind of • Places – where is it?
things can be • Things – Details, close ups, objects,
items
photographed in • Anything that adds to the story telling
Documentary to help the viewer understand
photography?
• Landscape, portraiture, still life,
wildlife, street photography...
• Go to the Magnum website and search for a topic you're interested
Task – in and see how different photographers have approached the
subject or simply choose a photographer from the list
Magnum • Pick one photographer – choose 3 images add them to your website
• Describe what the photographs are about
Photos • Describe what you like about them
• Describe the stories they tell
• Make sure you have the name of the photographer included on your
website (reference)
Resources
• https://www.magnumphotos.com
• https://www.huwdaviesphotography.com/prince
• https://www.mattfinn.com/mother
• https://www.artsy.net/artist/diane-arbus
• https://www.lensculture.com/articles/robert-frank-the-americans

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