Documentary photography
Before I studied the subject of documentary photography in college, I was a bit ignorant and not very inclined towards it. Little did I know back then that all the elite photographers from Magnum are documentary photographers.
I was lucky enough to have a lecturer, Brian, with lots of patience and a love for the subject, a man able to capture my attention from the start. At the time, my approach of the subject was simple and wrong: every photograph is a documentary photograph as it captures a certain moment in time, a unique moment. Well …
The subject of documentary photography can be anything: from places to people, from objects to culture and traditions, anything can be documented using photography as a medium. Of course, some things are easier to do, some not - as my friend Victor says: the easiest subject for a homeless photographer is the street.
From “Identity” © perfectlight 2013
Brian’s approach to documenting something was pretty simple: he divided the subject into categories and asked us to photograph a category a week. In the end, this simple division was the key that make us think at what we want to present in the documentary and how to present it. Want to try it? Here is a simple assignment with a simple subject: a park (I presume there is a park close enough to anybody that reads this article). Now divide the subject in 3 categories: the place, the people, the place and the people (3 is an easy number for starting).
The place: can be anything that you might think it is representative for the park, maybe unique, maybe original, maybe so common that you take it for granted.
The people: the people that are using the park for a variety of reasons.
The place and the people: the interaction of people with the place, how they are using the place, the result of using the place.
Now you have a body of work, all it’s left is to select and present your work.
From “Identity” © perfectlight 2013
One of my favorite photographers is Martin Parr, he managed to document and publish over 100 books with the largest variety of subjects - from food to British traditions, from travel to consumerism and so on. He is the best example of how anything can be the subject of documentary photography.
Martin Parr - Bethlehem, Palestine.1986 ©Martin Parr/Magnum Photos
In a previous post, I mentioned Adrian. To me, he is documenting everyday life in a raw form, sometimes I think of his photos as a dissection of common events that happens on a daily basis.
© Adrian Capusan
Documentary photography is not everybody’s cup of tea but it is a part of photography that brought me close to people and made me understand life and events in a different way. It is recommended that, if you want to do a documentary, you do a bit of research on the subject first; it will help you with the approach of the subject.