Lecture Notes - The Document

Photography innovative for human kind.
Ability to physically capture the world theoretically objectively

James Nachtwey
Capturing negatives and injustices to humanity
not necessarily being objective, but trying to express one view and expression.

Objective photography not really objective either because the existance
of the photographer is intervention in the scene.
Not documenting a scene of life but manipulating perspective and choosing
what they want someone to see.

'Neutral' photos do not exist.
"Photography achieves its highest distinction - reflecting the universality of human condition in a never-to-be retrieved fraction of a second"

Even seemingly realistic 100% objective views are what that photographer want to show in light, perspective, position etc

Even something as small as the title of a photograph can completely change the context of it and the way it looks to individuals.

Photographs attempting to be realistic are often constructed to be a fantasy view of the world either conciously or not.

Lewis Hine tried to create much more realisticallystyled photographs with some historical or social value.

Photographers can alter their photographs by changing the way their subjects react to them in what they are wearing and the way in whcih they act onto the subjects, as well as having pre conceptions as to what they want to capture.

The FSA-
Series of photographers working independently but controlled by the government to document the poor farmers that were movied (photography used to make the upper classes donate to the farmers charity)

Images constructed to portray a narrative.

Carl Damman
Cesare Lombroso "Portrait of a melancholy"

Photographs can be used completely subjectively to prove or convince things which are completely false.

Conflict Photography

Robert Capu and Cartier Bresson 1947
MAGNUM GROUP
To document the world and social problems
completely mobile and international

Although these are theoretically neutral, each photographer has their own style, making each photograph stylised
Falling Soldier 1936

Nick Ut 1972
Don McCullin 1968
Banned from Falklands by the british government because of worries about what he might photograph

Robert Haeberle 1969

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William Klein
Made it obvious and clear that the photographer is a role in the end product of the photograph, interacting obviously with the public and his subjects. In a way, this may make them more objective by never attemtping to say that he did not alter the pkicture with his presence.

Critical Realism:
The idea that actual reality says nothing about the subject and so the scene has to in some way be staged or altered for the photograph to have any meaning.

Allan Sekula
Andreas Gursky
Jeff Wall 1992

Gilliam Wearing "Signs that say what you want them to say" 1992-1993

Jeremy Deller "The Battle of Orgreave"
Jon McPhee (Documented at the time)

Documentry photography is irrelevant in modern age of technology with cameras in several digital items that are available to almost allof the general public.

Key Features:

-Humanitarian Perspective
-Tend to portray social and political situations
-They say they are objective though may be subjective
-People form the subject matter and content