The Document

The camera never lies and taking photographs is never a neutral activity.
The two main mass observation photography groups were Magnum and FSA photographers.

Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1826), 'View from a window at La Gras'

This photo was one of the first taken, it immediatly transcends painting with its technical mastery and its medium gains power.

James Nachtwey is a witness photographer, he was not just about documenting the world through his photography but he wanted to change the world and record history. So that future generations could see what had happened in the world, such as the Wars.

Documentary photographers involve themselves in society, they take a subjective stance and attempt to persuade others and expose their photography for a means of humanity.

James Nachtwey photograph slideshow

The purpose of his work was to show the truth about what was happening around the world to the world, his photographs could sometimes be quite shocking and emotional.

William Edward kilburn 'The Great Chartist meeting at the common' 1948

This photo shows the Chartist meeting up, Kilburn has taken a step back as to not disturb the meeting with his photography, but he stayed close enough to document the event.

The question was then posed:

'How can photographers not influence an event, even in the slightest way?'

Roger Fenton 1855, 'Into the valley of the shadow of death'

Henri Cartier Bresson

Henri was a documentary photographer but he also produced photos that had an aesthetic quality to them, he had the photograph in his mind before he took it.

He waited for ' The Decisive moment'.

Which posed the question:

' How much should documentary photography concern itself with aesthetics? '

Jacob Riis, was a middle class social campaigner, he released a book called ' How the other half live', which contained photographs showing lower class and middle class ways of life, which were then shown to the upper class. Which made the camera with a conscience.

'Bandits Roost' 1888

This photograph was not a neutral photo, the people are posing and presenting a sense of themselves, Riis has created this fantasy depiction of how he thinks they live.

'Growler gang in session' 1887 (robbing a lush)

Again this photo by Riis shows a fake portrayal of lower class people robbing an upper class, but really Riis has bribed kids to act out a robbery so that Riis could take photo portraying these kids as ferrel, but if you look closely you'll see that they are all actually wearing the same clothing.

Othering is a way of defining and securing your own positive identity through the stigmatization of an 'other'.

The FSA which ran from 1935 till 1944 was directed by Roy Stryker, which raised from the Great Depression. Photography was used as both photojournalism and an emotive lobbying tool.

When there was mass social crisis the FSA documented, they were given a script to follow in terms of what they had to photograph also known as a 'shooting script'.



This photograph was taken by Margarat Barker in 1937, the 'Sharecroppers home' was a depiction of a young black boy and his dog. The photo is quite sentimental and empathetic. The young boy is surrounded by piece of advertising from newspapers yet he himself could never afford such luxuries.

Russell Lee's 'Interior of a black farmers house' 1939 had a more open meaning to it, and was trying to disguise itself as a neutral photograph.

Dorothea Lange 1936 'Migrant mother'

This was taken during the time of the great depression, it shows a mother and her two children living in a shack. The expression of the woman has been set pre shot as to make the audience feel sorrow for the woman and her children.

The formation of the scene was then changed to just the woman feeding her baby, Lange tried out different compositions until she was happy with one that depicted their emotion and lifestyle. All of the negatives taken were sent to the government, so they could see the good and the bad photos, as they were negatives they couldn't be deleted.

Walker Evans

These two photographs were taken by Walker Evans they are documenting the life of a lower class farmer, the top one shows the man with puppy dog eyes and looking very sympathetic, this photo was made to attract an audience through feeling sorry for the man. The second photo the man has more of a stand off stance as if to say look what you upper class people are doing to me, it almost has an angry ambience to it.

 This is another photograph by Walker Evans called ' Graveyard, houses and steel mill' in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1935. There some very iconic images of everyday life, its a very aestheticised photograph, and a reminder of our own mortality. The houses represent us living, the factory showing we work and the graveyard showing we die.

John Lamprey 1868 ' Front and profile views of a malayan man' 

This photograph compares and contrasts with us, 'othering'. It tries to disguise itself as being a scientific pursuit.

Robert Capa, Normandy France 1945. This photo shows the British Army approaching the shores of Normandy during the war, Capa played an important role, he and other photographers who documented war and conflict produced horrifying but striking human experience. In this particular photograph the image is quite blurred, people are not sure if this effect was accidental or purposely done but it became known as the 'Capa Shudder'.

Some people forget when they see photographs like these that the photographer themselves would of had to be there to document the war, which means they were putting their lives at risk in order to document history for future generations.

Robert Haeberle 1969 Mylai massacre Vietnam

The image above is quite disturbing when you are told what is happening.

The family are seconds from being shot, the pure raw emotion on their faces is real. Harberle intercepted American soldiers seconds before they executed them so he could take a photo, once he had taken one they were shot dead. He could not look but from the corner of his eye he saw them fall to the ground.

It is an image of immense power and shows the last image of their lives which will be reserved forever showing just how inhumane we as people can be.

It brings up the question whether or not it was right what Haeberle did, should he have saved their lives after intercepting their fate or should he have stayed away. We know his intentions of the image, but was it morally right?