OUGD401: Context of Practice - The Photograph as Document

Document - Form of Evidence

Will look at;

• A short history
• Images - Working class / Poverty
• Reporting and War
• Photographing 'other' cultures
• Concept of the decisive moment
• Constructed moment - Then and Now

William Edward Kilburn - 'The great chartist meeting at the common' (1948)

• Camera is witness
• Not commenting, reporting

Grahame Clarke

• Photographer is a observer

Jacob Riis - 'How the other half live' 

• Took photos of New York slums, purpose: push for social reform
• Despite Riis, himself being wealthy and middle class

Jacob A Riis - 'A Growler Gang in Session (Robbing a Lush) (1887) 

• Completely constructed
• Nothing documentary

Lewis Hine - Russian Steel Workers

• Sociological Photographer

Duffer Boy (1909) 

• Doesn't exploit the subject
• Doesn't attempt to shock

F.S.A (Farm Security Administration)

Margaret Bourke-White - 'Sharecroppers Home' (1937) 

• Temporary home
• Not subjective, trusted to b objective
• Stack and dramatic contrast images - Magazines (Wealth) and young boy
• Magazines represent the American dream

Russel Lee - 'Interior of a Black Farmers House' (1939)

•  Less composition, no human presence - Press image
• Recording - No manipulation of the viewer

Dorothea Lange - 'Migrant Mother' (1936)

• Classic example of manipulation of the viewer
• Sees opportunity and takes it
• Madonna and child
• Featured in life magazine

Walker Evans - 'Floyd Burroughs (George Gudger) (1936)

• Hale County, Alabama
• No cropping
• Modernist aesthetic
• Pure and Straight

Graveyard, House and Steel Mill, Bethlehem

Bill Brandt - 'Northumberland Miner and His Evening Meal (1937)

• As an outsider
• Making all objects in the image significant
• Othering - Cliches of the North

Robert Frank - 'Parade - Hoboken, New Jersey'

• Outsider looking at America
• 'Freedom of expression'
• Uses caption to contradict the image

William Klein - St. Patrick's Day, 5th Avenue (1954/5)

• Human approach
• Not standing back
• Always someone looking at the camera

Dance in Brooklyn (1955)

• Known for use of blur and grain
• Dark connotation
• Capturing movement of the city

Magnum Group 

• Founded in 1947 by Cartier Bresson

Small camera 

• Could be used without being seen
• Street Photography
• Seamless disappearance of the photographer

The Decisive Moment

• The moment the shutter clicks on the camera

Henri Cartier Bresson

• Place De L'Europe. Gare Saint Lazare 
• 1932 - Sees the world as a stage
• No editing

Documentry and War Photography - Robert Capa

• 'The Falling Soldier' (1936) - Debunking of myths

Normandy France (1945)

• Use of blur implies he is in the water

George Rodger - 'Bergen-Belson Concentration Camp' (1945)

• Shows horror of situation but still retains respect

Lee Miller Buchenwald - 'Accidental Naplam'

Himg Cong Ut - 'Attack' (1972)

Robert Haeberle - 'People about to be shot' (1969)

Don McCullin - 'Shell Shocked Soldier' (1968)

• Effect of war
• Trauma

Documentary Constructed:

William Neidich (1989)

• Purposely constructed images
• Re-write American history

Edward Curtis - Native North Americans (Early 20th Century)

• Cliched representation of a culture

Rodger Korango - 'Nuba Tribesmen, Victor of a Wrestling Contrast'

• Not posed

Bruno Barbey

Jeremy Deller - 'The Battle of Orgreave' (2001)

• Re-created event of 1984
• Renacts history, acknowledging different viewpoints