Documentary pictures are valuable images due to the fact that they are visual reports of frozen moments of human life. But can we call every photograph documentary evidence? In the history of documentary photography there are various photographers who staged what they wanted to picture. Although photography is used to construct fictional images, by virtue of “the capture”, it cannot help but be associated with factuality.
The focus of the essay will be staged photography, which has gained acceptance as documentary photography in some instances, but from my point of view, cannot be considered true evidence. I would like to investigate whether staged photography can ever be authentically considered a type of documentary photography and whether staged photographs can be rightfully included in the history of documentary media. To test this boundary, I will analyze a sample of staged pictures taken by documentary photographers. Relying on several highly esteemed definitions of documentary photography and stage photography given by photographers, I have tried to come up with more detailed explanations for these two styles. Additionally, I am going to explain how photographers used a camera not only to record truth but also to use it as a tool to create a piece of art, in the end coming up with another definition of truth in their work.
Documentary photography, as a professional expression, was first popular during the depression years. Many artists were impressed by the darkness of the Depression in the 1930s and they had a natural tendency to illustrate it. Photographers started recording the different aspects of a human being’s life in terms of their relationship with its world. Whether these pictures show a conflict between a police officer and a protester, or contrast the simple life of a farmer inhabiting in a small Italian village and the complex life an abandoned child living in a huge American city, documentary photographs depict some significant components of our world that are sometimes undetected. Consequently, observing the world through a new window would be possible by the photographer’s point of view. Camera is so completely entailed in social improvement that the term documentary photography often implies a picture with a social purpose.
The camera undoubtedly is an influential tool which enables photographers to copy almost everything around them in the world as it exists. Due to this of capacity of photography, relying on the result as evidence seems inevitable. However, not every picture captured by camera could be considered a documentary photograph. To understand which photograph can be accepted as a document, as any picture is supposed to be a record of a subject, there are other words that provide a more clarifying explanation to describe the word ‘documentary’:‘historical’, ‘factual’ and ‘realistic’. Although each of these adjectives gives us a clear understanding of ‘documentary’, none characterizes documentary photography at its best. Walker Evans, one of the most impressive photographers in the history of documentary photography indicates, “Documentary, that’s a sophisticated and misleading word. And not really clear… The term should be documentary style… You see, a document has use, whereas art is really useless.” quoted from Rosenblum in A World History of Photography (340). Therefore, documentary has been accepted as the definition of a style, in the sense that we have described it.
Documentary photograph is a picture of the living world captured by a photographer whose intention is to describe reality and transfer some important message or tell a story. Its reliability and verification makes it perfect in service of historical and educational resources and this is one of the major aims and values of these depictions. Therefore, one may call it a visual representation of a moment to communicate something of importance for the sake of influencing the public. “The quality of authenticity implicit in a photograph may give it special value as evidence, or poof. Such a photograph can be called documentary by dictionary definition:” an original and official paper relied upon as basis, proof, or support of anything else; - in its most extended sense, including any writing, book or other instrument conveying information” (Newhall 235).
By Documentary photos, photographers invite their audience to participate in their findings about the true moments of human life and since these pictures demonstrate the fact, they are regarded as historical evidence. Thompson describes, “For these early workers, verisimilitude equaled truth. For them, truth in a photograph meant that the picture looked exactly like a view seen from the camera’s exact position” (21). It can be said that, even now, this perception of truth could be still reliable. Thus, the documentary photographer is responsible for being loyal and to record the truth impartially without interpolating any fictional matter. For instance, photos taken by Robert Frank are a great example of documenting an era of the United States. Nowadays his book, The Americans, is a rich source to investigate this period of time and uncover the life of Americans. He gives an explanation about his documents by saying: “ I had never traveled through the country. I saw something that was hidden and threatening. It is important to see what is invisible to others” (qtd. in Documentary Photography 166). Frank did not change anything in his pictures. By exploring Frank’s photos, the sense existing in that period is perceivable. They give us a deep understanding of the society and a close view of the United States. His pictures are not only strong evidence, an indication of human desperation and agony, but also are a conquering of the inner capability, self-respect and surpassing hope of his subject. He is a fast shooter, snapping away without premeditation. These features are the main characteristics of a documentary photographer.
Documentary photography, as a professional expression, was first popular during the depression years. Many artists were impressed by the darkness of the Depression in the 1930s and they had a natural tendency to illustrate it. Photographers started recording the different aspects of a human being’s life in terms of their relationship with its world. Whether these pictures show a conflict between a police officer and a protester, or contrast the simple life of a farmer inhabiting in a small Italian village and the complex life an abandoned child living in a huge American city, documentary photographs depict some significant components of our world that are sometimes undetected. Consequently, observing the world through a new window would be possible by the photographer’s point of view. Camera is so completely entailed in social improvement that the term documentary photography often implies a picture with a social purpose.
The camera undoubtedly is an influential tool which enables photographers to copy almost everything around them in the world as it exists. Due to this of capacity of photography, relying on the result as evidence seems inevitable. However, not every picture captured by camera could be considered a documentary photograph. To understand which photograph can be accepted as a document, as any picture is supposed to be a record of a subject, there are other words that provide a more clarifying explanation to describe the word ‘documentary’:‘historical’, ‘factual’ and ‘realistic’. Although each of these adjectives gives us a clear understanding of ‘documentary’, none characterizes documentary photography at its best. Walker Evans, one of the most impressive photographers in the history of documentary photography indicates, “Documentary, that’s a sophisticated and misleading word. And not really clear… The term should be documentary style… You see, a document has use, whereas art is really useless.” quoted from Rosenblum in A World History of Photography (340). Therefore, documentary has been accepted as the definition of a style, in the sense that we have described it.
Documentary photograph is a picture of the living world captured by a photographer whose intention is to describe reality and transfer some important message or tell a story. Its reliability and verification makes it perfect in service of historical and educational resources and this is one of the major aims and values of these depictions. Therefore, one may call it a visual representation of a moment to communicate something of importance for the sake of influencing the public. “The quality of authenticity implicit in a photograph may give it special value as evidence, or poof. Such a photograph can be called documentary by dictionary definition:” an original and official paper relied upon as basis, proof, or support of anything else; - in its most extended sense, including any writing, book or other instrument conveying information” (Newhall 235).
By Documentary photos, photographers invite their audience to participate in their findings about the true moments of human life and since these pictures demonstrate the fact, they are regarded as historical evidence. Thompson describes, “For these early workers, verisimilitude equaled truth. For them, truth in a photograph meant that the picture looked exactly like a view seen from the camera’s exact position” (21). It can be said that, even now, this perception of truth could be still reliable. Thus, the documentary photographer is responsible for being loyal and to record the truth impartially without interpolating any fictional matter. For instance, photos taken by Robert Frank are a great example of documenting an era of the United States. Nowadays his book, The Americans, is a rich source to investigate this period of time and uncover the life of Americans. He gives an explanation about his documents by saying: “ I had never traveled through the country. I saw something that was hidden and threatening. It is important to see what is invisible to others” (qtd. in Documentary Photography 166). Frank did not change anything in his pictures. By exploring Frank’s photos, the sense existing in that period is perceivable. They give us a deep understanding of the society and a close view of the United States. His pictures are not only strong evidence, an indication of human desperation and agony, but also are a conquering of the inner capability, self-respect and surpassing hope of his subject. He is a fast shooter, snapping away without premeditation. These features are the main characteristics of a documentary photographer.
This picture, Trolley, taken in New Orleans in 1955 (e.g. see fig1), may be seemingly a simple shot of a streetcar occupied by people looking outside. However, the shot has a high aesthetic value and along with its excellent composition, it shows us a chapter of the history. Two black men with their empty look but totally distinguished, two children’s disturbed look in the middle of the picture catching every viewers’ attention and an intelligent looking man faded behind the reflection of a window are exactly the characteristics of a gloomy world. |
In this picture, Candy Store (e.g. see fig2), what the viewer sees is not simply a crowd of people or a mere shot of young men and women, but is a mirror of a generation living under the gloomy era. Each person is introduced in his own little space all at the same time and each has their own social and psychological presence. There are no primary characters, no foreground and background, all equally presented at one time with the same importance. It does not mean that documentarians do not think as they work; they make up their own mind as quickly as possible to make the act reflexive, shooting what they see earlier than the thoughtful mind has time to analyze or reorganize it. Frank says: “My photographs are not planned or composed in advance and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind- something has been accomplished” (“Photoquotes”).
|
Frank reflects what he sees and he makes these images a significant visual component of the reality; the photographer has disappeared in these photos and the image itself talks directly about the event. The pictures may seem particularly impersonal and they are as informative as a page of an encyclopedia could be. Actually, for Frank the truth was what he took, what he made of what he saw. Aesthetics in a photograph is not a priority for a documentary photographer. Grierson pointes out: “Documentary was from the beginning … an anti-aesthetic movement… What confuses the history is that we had always the good sense to use the aesthetic. We did so because we liked them and because we needed them.” Documentary is, therefore, an approach that makes use of the artistic faculties to give ‘vivification to fact’, quoted from Newhall in The History of Photography (238). Nonetheless, the photographers have followed some aesthetic rules in their works quite unconsciously. For example, the composition and harmony between black, white and grey in Frank’s photos are very astonishing. Newhall writes: “Stryker pointed out: Documentary is an approach, not a technique; an affirmation, not a negation... The documentary attitude is not a denial of the plastic elements that must remain essential criteria in any work. It merely gives these elements limitation and direction. Thus composition becomes emphasis, and line sharpness, focus, filtering, mood- all those components included in the dreary vagueness “quality” are made to serve an end: to speak, as eloquently as possible, of the things to be said in the language of pictures” (245).
Over the course of the history of photography, photography is usually associated with facts, yet it has been a medium for fiction from the very beginning. Photographers were trying to illustrate their imagination by changing or adding any element during or after the photographic process. In this process the influence of paintings was especially notable and there has always been a close relationship between painting and photography. Although the camera had demonstrated itself as a tool for showing things as they were, lots of photographers - Edward Steichen, for example -had a tendency to change some elements to make their pictures more artistic. They tried to decrease the sharpness to remove unwanted details by working on the negative or by using soft focus. Some photographers tended to imitate painters to change reality into fiction. Therefore, their approaches to photography were from an artistic view.
Over the course of the history of photography, photography is usually associated with facts, yet it has been a medium for fiction from the very beginning. Photographers were trying to illustrate their imagination by changing or adding any element during or after the photographic process. In this process the influence of paintings was especially notable and there has always been a close relationship between painting and photography. Although the camera had demonstrated itself as a tool for showing things as they were, lots of photographers - Edward Steichen, for example -had a tendency to change some elements to make their pictures more artistic. They tried to decrease the sharpness to remove unwanted details by working on the negative or by using soft focus. Some photographers tended to imitate painters to change reality into fiction. Therefore, their approaches to photography were from an artistic view.
Alfred Stieglitz writes, “The photographer, like the painter, has to depend upon his observation of and feeling for nature in the production of a picture” (118). However, using different techniques to make significant visual changes in a picture, whether by chemicals (in a darkroom) or by the photographer setting up for his composition, is not only unacceptable in documentary process but also quite disloyal to the pure definition of documentary. |
Stieglitz often set up the subjects he photographed. For example, as Garcia mentions: “Proponents of straight photography, namely Stieglitz and Weston, often set up the subjects they photographed … Stieglitz’s 1918 portraits of his future wife (e.g. see fig 4)...who gestures provocatively with her powerful hands” (10). The painter Henri Matisse states in Camera Work in 1908: “ Photography can provide the most precious documents existing, and no one can contest its value from that point of view. If it is practiced by a man of taste, the photograph will have the appearance of art... Photography should register and give us documents” (Newhall 235). |
The interpretation of truth seems slippery and hard to narrow down. The explanation of reality is vastly opposed among the photographers. “The truth for Stieglitz was his emotional state, his response, how he felt. (Thompson 38). As Stieglitz describes, “For years the photographer has onward first by steps, and finally by strides and leaps... advanced and improved till he has brought his art to its present state of perfection. This is the real photography”(Stieglitz 122).
On the contrary, Coomaraswamy gives another description of Stieglitz’s achievement: “Mr. Stieglitz’ work well illustrates the fundamental problems of the photographer. The camera is a means of expression with virtues and limitations of its own; the photograph which looks like a drawing, etching or painting, is not a real photograph.” (qtd. in Truth and Photography 23).
For documentary photographers, I suggest, truth was authentic realism. In contrast, for photographers with an artistic approach, inner recognition and the photographer’s experience of the subject became the truth to be expressed and recorded. Consequently, the meaning of truth began to change.“... truth begins to mean something a little different. Truth in photography may involve some degree of verisimilitude to the object seen, but the primary reference shifts from object to subject. Truth now refers not to accurate representation of the object seen but rather to accurate representation of the artist’s response to the object or view… Truth now means fidelity to the subjective experience of the artist” (Thompson 22).
On the contrary, Coomaraswamy gives another description of Stieglitz’s achievement: “Mr. Stieglitz’ work well illustrates the fundamental problems of the photographer. The camera is a means of expression with virtues and limitations of its own; the photograph which looks like a drawing, etching or painting, is not a real photograph.” (qtd. in Truth and Photography 23).
For documentary photographers, I suggest, truth was authentic realism. In contrast, for photographers with an artistic approach, inner recognition and the photographer’s experience of the subject became the truth to be expressed and recorded. Consequently, the meaning of truth began to change.“... truth begins to mean something a little different. Truth in photography may involve some degree of verisimilitude to the object seen, but the primary reference shifts from object to subject. Truth now refers not to accurate representation of the object seen but rather to accurate representation of the artist’s response to the object or view… Truth now means fidelity to the subjective experience of the artist” (Thompson 22).
The North American Indians Project by Edward Curtis is one of the most controversial series in documentary photography. What he wanted to do was to produce an academic and artistic work that would document the beliefs, ceremonies, customs, daily life, and to record what he might have thought as a vanishing nation. “Curtis said he wanted to document ‘the old time Indian’, his dress, his ceremonies, his life and manners” (Vizenor, Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist). Although Curtis's photographic work is now acknowledged as one of the most impressive and important ethnographic records of Native culture, since he manipulated and staged these pictures, the nature of his work could be in conflict with the conventional meaning of documentary photography. Curtis removed wagons, parasols, clocks, suspenders, and other traces of Western material culture from many of his pictures.
|
Fig 6. Edward Curtis, In a Piegan Lodge, 1911. (Original & Retouched)
|
For instance, in this picture, In a Piegan Lodge, he removed the clock (e.g. see fig6), which had been in the original negative , between the two men. Though it seems that he was sensitive to the hardships of the natives, his photographs only portray the simulations of the vanishing tribe. Probably he retouched this picture to re-illustrate the glory of the traditional life style, yet he may not have understood the actual tricky scenes. The picture with the clock has a strange beauty and enlivens a visual analogy. The retouched photograph without the clock could be an act of unfaithfulness. "When a photo is manipulated in any way, truth is compromised; when truth is compromised, distrust begins. Distrust produces a lack of faith in the media," he noted, but photography "has always been manipulated" writes Brugioni (202).
In staged photography the artist’s attitude is often similar to that of a commercial photographer. Everything could be previously designed to make the artist able to stage an imaginary story or an event from real life or myth, history and ethnography or even science fiction. Before shooting, a photographer comes up with an idea for the picture. The next step is preparing a suitable set, a fine composition of the elements, as well as lights. The photographer selects models, appropriate outfits and make up. This is exactly what Curtis did in his photography. He is known to have paid natives to pose in arranged scenes, taking part or dancing in fake ceremonies by wearing historically unreliable clothes. Vizenor outlines: “He selected ornaments, vestments, and he played the natural light, tone, picturesque reflections, and the solitary nature of natives in his pictures.” “Curtis was clearly a photographic faker by his removal and insertions of details, and by false captions” (Vizenor, Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist).
In staged photography the artist’s attitude is often similar to that of a commercial photographer. Everything could be previously designed to make the artist able to stage an imaginary story or an event from real life or myth, history and ethnography or even science fiction. Before shooting, a photographer comes up with an idea for the picture. The next step is preparing a suitable set, a fine composition of the elements, as well as lights. The photographer selects models, appropriate outfits and make up. This is exactly what Curtis did in his photography. He is known to have paid natives to pose in arranged scenes, taking part or dancing in fake ceremonies by wearing historically unreliable clothes. Vizenor outlines: “He selected ornaments, vestments, and he played the natural light, tone, picturesque reflections, and the solitary nature of natives in his pictures.” “Curtis was clearly a photographic faker by his removal and insertions of details, and by false captions” (Vizenor, Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist).
The photograph Oglala War-Party (e.g. see fig7) was taken by Curtis in 1907, when natives were starving on reservations. In this period, they were suffering due to the fact that their rights were denied by the government and they had to live with little dignity, freedom and rights. The picture shows ten Oglala men riding down hill on horseback, wearing war costumes with feather headdresses. However, in reality tribes wore this kind of headdresses only during important events or it would have been worn by the chief of the tribe. Ultimately, it seems that his purpose was to display the American Indians in their own elements as accurately as possible. Despite the fact that he posed the native Americans whom he was picturing according to his real intention of realism, the sense of idealism is obvious. |
Curtis describes this image: “Here is depicted a group of Sioux warriors as they appeared in the days of intertribal warfare, carefully making their way down a hillside in the vicinity of the enemy's camp. Many hold in their hands, instead of weapons, mere sticks adorned with eagle-feathers or scalps - the so-called coup-sticks - desiring to win honor by striking a harmless blow therewith as well as to inflict injury with arrow and bullet” (Vizenor).
Curtis’s photography is staged, or art photography, with an idealistic manner in talking about a documentary event. The illustrated images of brooding warriors are simulations of the real; transformed in visual analogies. The realism of Native life style had been concealed by the aesthetic of poses and it counters documentation. His captured images are aesthetic simulations. Probably his purpose in eliminating western materials from his photographs was to illustrate a pure Indian culture but it is neglecting the mere fact that it will not transfer accurate information to the future generation. Vizenor writes: “Still, as UCSD scholars Ross Frank and Heidi Wigler, the Wangenheim librarians point out: “Curtis’ legacy is troubling on more serious grounds. Curtis ‘collected’ people, their dwellings, and their material culture (baskets, clothing, cradleboards, for instance)...” (“Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist”).
Curtis was a devoted pictorial photographer in his time. However, he miscarried some important informative components of his project. Having devoted an immense portion of his career to picture native life, Curtis was most likely popular among some natives during that period but as Robbins writes: “Curtis’ images have not been universally welcomed among native Indians. Many Indians and non-Indian scholars object to Curtis’ methods, even if the results are stunning” (Vizenor), and probably, may not be truly acceptable by the so-called historical revisionists who will look at his works in the future. By studying Curtis’s photographs, the question that comes to the mind is how much mediation is ethical? Winston explains it in three stages: "First, in effect losing a distinct idea of how documentary differs from other factual programming in general and news in particular destroys the basis upon which a distinct documentary ethic can be made to rest. Second, we have a heightened sense of audience protection - the very fact of content regulation assumes caveat emptor is not enough. At
the same time we have confused media responsibilities to the audience with the ethical duties owed participants as if the outcomes of taking part were the same as spectating.Finally, the concept of ‘fakery’ has been so broadly construed that, in its naiveté, it echoes the old error - ‘the camera can not lie’” "(181).
Hence, I suggest that mediation in terms of documentary photography is not ethical since the audience tend to trust a documentary photo. However, Curtis’s works during twenty years of his career could not be easily ignored and this criticism does not necessarily underestimate the value of his pictures. The process of the staged photography as Kohler presents it is: “In making this type of photograph the artist behaves much like a commercial photographer or a film director: First he develops an idea for the picture - the ‘script’ so to speak - then has the appropriate sets, props, costumes, and if needed, make up prepared, selects performers and ultimately employs all of these elements to stage fictional events or scenes from everyday life, from history, legend, mythology or science fiction” (15). In artistic staged photography a photographer somehow escapes from reality to reveal what actually exists underneath of the subject. The Photographer creates a unique interpretation of the subject and his idea; therefore the picture is an illustration of his conception of truth. The audience has a free choice of their own personal analysis and these photos don't carry the same meaning for all audience. In this manner, a photo is very much similar to a poem. One’s perception of a single poem may differ drastically from another, depending on cognitive abilities and several other factors.
Vowinckel (1995), in his discussion about the aspects of constructed photography during 1970s, describes: “They (artists) verify an imagined ‘poetic’ idea by means of the perfected staging of every aspect of representation. In the traditional claim of authenticity of the photographic image the reality of the depicted subject becomes the reality of an imagined event which has never actually taken place” (Kohler 12).
Curtis’s photography is staged, or art photography, with an idealistic manner in talking about a documentary event. The illustrated images of brooding warriors are simulations of the real; transformed in visual analogies. The realism of Native life style had been concealed by the aesthetic of poses and it counters documentation. His captured images are aesthetic simulations. Probably his purpose in eliminating western materials from his photographs was to illustrate a pure Indian culture but it is neglecting the mere fact that it will not transfer accurate information to the future generation. Vizenor writes: “Still, as UCSD scholars Ross Frank and Heidi Wigler, the Wangenheim librarians point out: “Curtis’ legacy is troubling on more serious grounds. Curtis ‘collected’ people, their dwellings, and their material culture (baskets, clothing, cradleboards, for instance)...” (“Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist”).
Curtis was a devoted pictorial photographer in his time. However, he miscarried some important informative components of his project. Having devoted an immense portion of his career to picture native life, Curtis was most likely popular among some natives during that period but as Robbins writes: “Curtis’ images have not been universally welcomed among native Indians. Many Indians and non-Indian scholars object to Curtis’ methods, even if the results are stunning” (Vizenor), and probably, may not be truly acceptable by the so-called historical revisionists who will look at his works in the future. By studying Curtis’s photographs, the question that comes to the mind is how much mediation is ethical? Winston explains it in three stages: "First, in effect losing a distinct idea of how documentary differs from other factual programming in general and news in particular destroys the basis upon which a distinct documentary ethic can be made to rest. Second, we have a heightened sense of audience protection - the very fact of content regulation assumes caveat emptor is not enough. At
the same time we have confused media responsibilities to the audience with the ethical duties owed participants as if the outcomes of taking part were the same as spectating.Finally, the concept of ‘fakery’ has been so broadly construed that, in its naiveté, it echoes the old error - ‘the camera can not lie’” "(181).
Hence, I suggest that mediation in terms of documentary photography is not ethical since the audience tend to trust a documentary photo. However, Curtis’s works during twenty years of his career could not be easily ignored and this criticism does not necessarily underestimate the value of his pictures. The process of the staged photography as Kohler presents it is: “In making this type of photograph the artist behaves much like a commercial photographer or a film director: First he develops an idea for the picture - the ‘script’ so to speak - then has the appropriate sets, props, costumes, and if needed, make up prepared, selects performers and ultimately employs all of these elements to stage fictional events or scenes from everyday life, from history, legend, mythology or science fiction” (15). In artistic staged photography a photographer somehow escapes from reality to reveal what actually exists underneath of the subject. The Photographer creates a unique interpretation of the subject and his idea; therefore the picture is an illustration of his conception of truth. The audience has a free choice of their own personal analysis and these photos don't carry the same meaning for all audience. In this manner, a photo is very much similar to a poem. One’s perception of a single poem may differ drastically from another, depending on cognitive abilities and several other factors.
Vowinckel (1995), in his discussion about the aspects of constructed photography during 1970s, describes: “They (artists) verify an imagined ‘poetic’ idea by means of the perfected staging of every aspect of representation. In the traditional claim of authenticity of the photographic image the reality of the depicted subject becomes the reality of an imagined event which has never actually taken place” (Kohler 12).
Great examples of the staged photography are photographs taken by Kansuke Yomamoto. As an accomplished avant-garde and surrealist photographer he created his photographs with a very close connection to poetry. His pictures have all the characteristic of the staged photography. The series called My Thin- Aired Room (e.g. see fig8) is a narrative sequence and the photographer tries to create visual poetry with a sense of mystery. These pictures are pictorial reports of a frozen moment of the interior life of dream landscapes in dialogue with borderline consciousness. The close relationship between painting and artistic photography can be seen in Yomamoto’s pictures. He was considerably affected by European Surrealists, namely Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro.
|
Staged photography is a surreal practice and a photographer is an autonomous artist. Moreover, deconstruction is the key concept of this style. The subject is invented by the photographer and any manipulation in negatives and prints is acceptable.
To conclude, during the history of photography, the camera gained acceptance as a powerful tool and the photograph became a reliable and accurate visual reporter for almost every purpose. Therefore, documentary photographers were able to influence the public and they could broaden the viewers experience to show them the unseen aspects of society. Photography has tremendous social value and it has become the most important aid in educating and obtaining instructions. Furthermore, photographers have shared the belief that a photograph can convey information in the most loyal way. Accordingly, their pictures managed to influence people’s attitudes. For instance, through the Depression of the 1930s, during the war years and the postwar recovery period, documentary photographers roamed the world to capture the special sense of time and place created by each society at a given moment in history. These pictures can illustrate how a documentary photograph could become a powerful weapon for social improvements. Thus, documentary photographs provide us with the opportunity to dig into history, investigate it and learn about the past. In addition, they are capable of passing on particular information about any significant event around the world. Consequently, if a documentary photographer is not loyal to the very essence of the documentary, the result should not be considered as true evidence.
Before photography, painting had occupied the prime spot for illustrating history. After the invention of photography, there has always been a productive and noticeable relationship between photography and painting. Consequently, some photographers tried to use camera in the same way a painter used a brush. By staging and manipulating in the process of producing pictures, photographers were able to demonstrate their thoughts and personal understanding towards the world and their subjects. The result was to create aesthetically valuable art pieces just like the photographs taken by Stieglitz and Curtis as mentioned before. Yet, staged photographs cannot be regarded as precise pieces of documentary evidence. Curtis’s photographs are praised as a pictorial depiction, and without his efforts we could not have this brilliant collection about North American Indians. Nevertheless, his work should not be reviewed as a pure documentary photograph since his focus was more ideological than realistic. He staged, altered, and manipulated his pictures to create an ethnographic simulation as a pictorial photographer. “Christopher Lyman in The Vanishing Race and Other Illusions, observed: “In terms of ethnography, posing did injustice to scientific accuracy”’ (Vizenor, Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist).
Everything is changing around us; so it should be very important for a documentary photographer to record any significant event in our world, without retouching any photos, to create pure documentary photos for future generations in order to make them understand the way we live as clearly as possible.
To conclude, during the history of photography, the camera gained acceptance as a powerful tool and the photograph became a reliable and accurate visual reporter for almost every purpose. Therefore, documentary photographers were able to influence the public and they could broaden the viewers experience to show them the unseen aspects of society. Photography has tremendous social value and it has become the most important aid in educating and obtaining instructions. Furthermore, photographers have shared the belief that a photograph can convey information in the most loyal way. Accordingly, their pictures managed to influence people’s attitudes. For instance, through the Depression of the 1930s, during the war years and the postwar recovery period, documentary photographers roamed the world to capture the special sense of time and place created by each society at a given moment in history. These pictures can illustrate how a documentary photograph could become a powerful weapon for social improvements. Thus, documentary photographs provide us with the opportunity to dig into history, investigate it and learn about the past. In addition, they are capable of passing on particular information about any significant event around the world. Consequently, if a documentary photographer is not loyal to the very essence of the documentary, the result should not be considered as true evidence.
Before photography, painting had occupied the prime spot for illustrating history. After the invention of photography, there has always been a productive and noticeable relationship between photography and painting. Consequently, some photographers tried to use camera in the same way a painter used a brush. By staging and manipulating in the process of producing pictures, photographers were able to demonstrate their thoughts and personal understanding towards the world and their subjects. The result was to create aesthetically valuable art pieces just like the photographs taken by Stieglitz and Curtis as mentioned before. Yet, staged photographs cannot be regarded as precise pieces of documentary evidence. Curtis’s photographs are praised as a pictorial depiction, and without his efforts we could not have this brilliant collection about North American Indians. Nevertheless, his work should not be reviewed as a pure documentary photograph since his focus was more ideological than realistic. He staged, altered, and manipulated his pictures to create an ethnographic simulation as a pictorial photographer. “Christopher Lyman in The Vanishing Race and Other Illusions, observed: “In terms of ethnography, posing did injustice to scientific accuracy”’ (Vizenor, Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist).
Everything is changing around us; so it should be very important for a documentary photographer to record any significant event in our world, without retouching any photos, to create pure documentary photos for future generations in order to make them understand the way we live as clearly as possible.
Bibliography
- Brugioni, Dino A. Photo Fakery.Dulles, Virginia: Brassey’s, 1999. Print.
- Edward S.Curtis’s The North American Indian [electronic resource], Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, 13 July. 2007. Web, 24 Nov. 2011.
- Editors of Time-Life Books. Dodumentary photography. New York: Time-life Books, 1972. Print.
- Garcia, Erin. Photography as Fiction. J.Paul Getty Museum, 2010. Print.
- Kohler, Michael, ed. Constructed Realities. Edition Stemmle, 1995. Print.
- Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1982. Print.
- Photoquotes. Quotation from the World of Photography, 2010. Web, 30 Nov. 2011.
- Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 2007. Print.
- Robbins, Cathy. Collection Indians. Voice of sandiego, 16 Nov. 2006. Web, 28 Nov. 2011.
- Stieglitz, Alfred. “Pictorial Photography”. Classic Essays on Photography. Leete’s Books, 1980.
- Thompson, Jerry L. Truth and Photography: Notes on Looking and Photographing. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2003. Print.
- Vizenor, Gerald. Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist. 6 October.2000. Web, 14 Nov. 2011.
- Winston, Brian. “Ethics” New Challenges for Documentary. Ed. Alan Rosenthal and John Corner. Manchester University Press, 2005. Print.