'The Document'.

"Still there is something predatory in the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they see themselves, by having knowledge of them as they can never be; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as the camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminated murder- a soft murder, appropraite to a sad, frightened time."- Susan Sontag, 1979:15.

*** The document describes the photograph as an objective and truthful document of the world, photography as a fact. There are always hidden power struggles in photography- with power, agenda and neutral imagery. ***

Aims:

• To introduce documentary photography and conflict photography.
• Introduce the work of Mass Observation, Magnum and the FSA photographers.
• Explore questions of objectivity and subjectivity inherent in documentary practice.
• Interrogate the authoritity of the photographic image.

James Natchwey, famous War Photographer states

"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten, and must never be repeated."

• Documentary photography is evidence not to question- in a neutral state.
• Using the camera to investigate social change, recording for history in it's documentation (and to inform others) "a camera with a conscience"- not purely there to visually record, but also to expose threat, scandal, etc.
• James Nachtwey (http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/) shows visual documentation with the idea that ending conflict inspires him to create a sense of humanity. A powerful antidote to the end of War, whereupon photographers emerse themselves in these potentially life-threatening situations to emote and inform the masses- protesting to make other protest. The documentary photographer's role is to be involved in societies- often taking a stance and taking political sides with hopes to communicate and persuade.

Palestine, 2000, James Nachtwey.

Rwanda, 1994, James Natchwey.

Sudan, 1993, James Natchwey.

Frances Firth (1875) "Entrance to the Great Temple"- the beginnings of photographic practice show documentation of the divides between "us" and "them"- and introduces people to new cultures and societies that they may have otherwise never seen, creating bonds, yet also driving classes and socities further apart than ever.

William Edward Kilburn, 'The Great Charitist Meeting At the Common' (1848)- the photographer here removes himself from the crowd, detached from the image- creating a sense of authenticity, though this is not neccessarily as emotive or thought-provoking, as it depeicts an outsider looking on, not in.

"The Decisive moment"

Roger Fenton (1855) 'Into the Shadow of the Valley of Death'.

"Photography achieves it's highest distinction- reflecting the universality of the human condition in a never-to-be-retrieved fraction of a second."

-Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Gare Saint Lazare, 1932 Paris, Place de l'Europe.

Cartier-Bressons images were distinctive for being very composed in his ideas, he would reportedly wait for hours for "the decisive moment"- by capturing a fraction of a second, creating something more artistic than standard objective photography.

But in documentation, such as Cartier-Bresson's is there an element of aestheticisation? And if so, does this make it truly documentary?

Jacob Riis (1888) 'Bandits Roost'- a middle-class campaigning photographer, photographed scenes of poverty and squalor to show the public, in order to prompt reforms to ease these people out of poverty and lower-class living.

Of course, these pictures, with the technological advances of cameras in these times wouldn't have been a "quick snap", but carefully set-up and posed- these men were far too respectably dressed to have been from the lower classes, and with the hinsight on modern day, this picture cannot show a true depiction of the time- yet with this documentation the only thing to relate to, this is all people have to distinguish societies and cultures of these times.

This was socialisation as much as documentation. Vouyeristic, "allowing" the rich to spy on the poor, was this a hidden agenda for Riis as he published his photographic works, was it purely a money-maker?

Lewis Hine, Russian steel workers, Homestead, pa. 1908

This photographed showed neutrality with humanity. Sharing the plight og immagrant workers as normal, strong and hard-working people.

FSA Photographers (1935-44.)- Farm Security Administration (Department of Agriculture)

• Director: Ray Stryker
• Depression: 11 million unemployed
• Mass migration of farm-workers and labourers 'Oakies'
• They used photography in photojournalism and as an effective emotive lobbying tool

The "Shooting Scripts" instructed as to lobby: which pictures to take, etc- with complete agenda.

Margaret Bourke-White, 'Sharecroppers Home', 1937.

The staged scene is created to be very emotive to the audience- with the youth and innocence of the young boy and faithful dog by his side, the newspaper-lined walls reflecting commercialism and industry- affluent vs. impoverished- not at all neutral, staged, emotive and biased.

Russel Lee, 1939, 'Interior of a Black Farmer's House'.

Dorothea Lange, 1936, 'Migrant Mother'- THE image of the depression.

The FSA were service members, as oppossed to artistic creatives, they were employed by the Government, and were expected to send them their negatives, whereupon the choice photos would be selected- with the photographers getting no real say in the images chosen- and the results and images chosen would often be far different from their personal choice.

Mass Observation 1937-1960's

• Tom Harrison (anthropologist)
• Charles Madge (poet)
• Humphrey Jennings (filmmaker)
• Humphrey Spender (photographer)

1/2 political, 1/2 social. The Mass Observationists in Photography tried to depict every day life in Britain.

• Leica cameras were invented circa 1920- easily to document and photograph, instant results- really capturing a moment.
• Photographer's roles become far more socially important, yet could only have been completed thanks to the new, modern technologies.

War/Conflict

Robert Capa, Normandy, France- 1945, documenting yet also aesthetisised? The distinctive "Capa shudder" led people to believe that he tried to "glamourise" drama and devistation.

The Magnum Group

• Founded in 1947 by Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa.
• Ethos of documenting the world and it's social problems.
• Promoting Internationalism and mobility./

In conclusion, the Magnum Group was a collaborative network of journalists and photographers of whom inspired to "record the world for humanity".

Robert Capa.

Don Mucillin 'Shell Shocked Soldier'.

Robert Haeberle (1969)- The Milie Massacre- Vietnam, whereupon innocent civillians were slaughtered (such as the family in this photograph). The family in this image were seconds away from being shot, when Haeberle intervened and called for the American soldiers to stop- though not to stop shooting them, but to pause for a second so that he could take a photograph, thus he captured them in their last moment of these people's lives- a moment of true horror.

For a group and movement which was said to have been established for the sake of humanity and spreading awareness, how humane was this? Surely, he could have tried to save these people?

Summary of Documentary Photography:

-Offering a humanitarian perspective.

-Portraying social and political situations.

-Objective is to tell the facts of the situation.

-People usually form the subject matter- emotive and human.

FURTHER READING:

• Barthes, R (1982) 'Camera Lucida', UK, Hill & Wang
• Clarke, G (1997) 'The Photograph', UK, Oxford University Press
• Edwards, S (2006) 'Photography: a very short introduction'
• Sontag, S (1979) 'On Photography', UK, Penguin
• Wells, L (2008) 'Photography: A Critical Introduction', London, Routledge, pp. 65-11