Exercise 1.2 Analysing social documentary

Do some further research into the work of at least two of the photographers mentioned in this survey of the chronology of social documentary from Stieglitz onwards.

Select one image produced by each photographer (either from the course guide or the internet) to analyse in more dept. 

• What is the subject of the photograph?
• What was the context?
• Was the photographer working for pay
• Was the taking of the photograph consensual or non-consensual? (ie, did the subject agree to have their photograph taken)?
• Does the photograph reveal any particular ‘trademark’ or style of the photographer?
• Is the photograph successful?
• Is the photograph an example of social documentary of it is photojournalism?  Try to explain your answer.

Write at least 250 words for each image in your learning blog.

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Definitions:

Social documentary photography: the recording of humans in their natural condition with a camera. Often it also refers to a socially critical genre of photography dedicated to showing the life of underprivileged or disadvantaged people.

Photojournalism: the practice of communicating news by photographs, especially in magazines.

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Photograph 1 by Alfred Stieglitz

The Steerage

• What is the subject of the photograph?

 This photograph shows how poor people travelled to and from America by ship in the early part of the 20^th century.

• What was the context?

Stieglitz took the image when he travelled to Europe.  He developed the plate in a borrowed darkroom but didn’t publish it for several years.

• Was the photographer working for pay?

No, Stieglitz took the image as a set of images but wasn’t paid for it at the time.

• Was the taking of the photograph consensual or non-consensual? (ie, did the subject agree to have their photograph taken)?

The image was taken without the knowledge of the people in it.  Therefore no one gave consent for the picture to be taken.

• Does the photograph reveal any particular ‘trademark’ or style of the photographer?

I’m not sure what is meant by the words ‘trademark’ or ‘style’ in this context.  It would have been what is now called a grab shot taken whilst the subjects were involved with their normal lives on board ship in the lowest class of travel.

• Is the photograph successful?

It certainly gives the impression of how overcrowded it must have been in steerage and the poor conditions that passengers in Steerage class had to endure.

• Is the photograph an example of social documentary or it is photojournalism?  Try to explain your answer.

In my opinion the photograph would be classed as a part of a social documentary portfolio unless Stieglitz wrote about the experience as well.  As I understand it social documentary is a series of pictures on a theme which can stand alone without words whilst photojournalism is a mixture of pictures and words describing what was happening in the pictures and the background surrounding taking them.

Photograph 2 by Dorothea Lange

Penniless Family Dorothea Lange

• What is the subject of the photograph?

The subject of this photograph is of how families were forced to live in the 1930s during the Great Depression in America.  Families had to travel around the country trying to find work to earn money to feed their families.

• What was the context?

The context was how poor families lived and worked during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

• Was the photographer working for pay?

Yes, Dorothea Lange was commissioned by the FSA (The Farm Security Administration) to show how families were managing, or not managing, to exist at that time.

• Was the taking of the photograph consensual or non-consensual? (ie, did the subject agree to have their photograph taken)?

The photographs that Lange took would have to have been consensual.  Her pictures showed families and specific parts of families living and working in the fields.  Many of the subjects were facing the camera, some looking off camera but they must have known that Lange was taking photographs.

• Does the photograph reveal any particular ‘trademark’ or style of the photographer?

Lange took all her photographs on site within the working conditions of the migrants she was recording.  Her style was to focus on women within the family environment as they travelled to find work to feed their families.

• Is the photograph successful?

It shows a migrant family with all their worldly goods packed on the back of an old jalopy.  This was their home, their mode of transport and it carried everything they owned in the world.

• Is the photograph an example of social documentary or it is photojournalism?  Try to explain your answer.

This photograph, along with all Lange’s pictures showed the recording of humans in their natural condition with a camera. It also referred to a socially critical genre of photography dedicated to showing the life of underprivileged or disadvantaged people therefore Lange’s work was in social documentary rather than photo journalism.