Documentary Photography
Usually covered in professional photojournalism, but it can also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit, documentary photography is a popular form of photography used to record either important and historical events and ordinary life.
This is photograph is of the pacifist, Jane Rose Kasmir planting a flower on the bayonets of guards at the Pentagon during a protest against the Vietnam War. She is demonstrating her belief that war and violence are unjustified. It was taken on October 21, 1967 by Marc Riboud. The photograph is not staged as it captures Jane's trebling hands as she places the flower which then became one of the most iconic symbols of peace at this time.
This photograph shows emotion as it shows the innocence and terror of war whilst still showing the hope people have even in situations as terrifying as this. It makes me feel hopeful since it shows the power and effect just one photograph of one person can have. |
This is photograph a from Don McCullin, a photographer known for his work in documentary photography especially that of the Vietnam War. McCullin also photographed events taking place from India to London, often depicting the somberness of everyday life for some less fortunate people. However, due to the impact the scenes of war had on McCullin, he now enjoys landscape photography of the British countryside.
This example of work was taken during the conflict of the Vietnamese War. The idea of it is to show the relationship between the two sides (American soldiers and the Vietnamese). This image shows an American soldier in the home of a local family. The picture of the family makes the image much more personal since you can see the destruction brought into their home and the presence of a stranger - which would be frightening in any situation- made more frightening because of the context. Another emotional factor to add to this image is the thought that the framed photo of the family may be all that is left of them as the result of war. It is an emotional yet simple image, provoking feelings of sadness and fear. The majority of documentary photographs are taken or edited into black and white since it adds drama to an image. |
Ideas for my own project.
This mind map shows my ideas for my own documentary photography project. From this I think that architecture would be an interesting to show old buildings and the different structures. This could provide may interesting angles and view structures in different ways.
For this, I went to Litchfield to photograph the Tudor era architecture to show the evolution of structure compared to modern day homes, as well as some of the unique finer details.