Documentary
Photography
Meaning
Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of
photography used to capture significant and historical events. It is typically
covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may
also be an amateur, artistic or academic pursuit. A documentary photography
attempts to produce objective, truthful and usually candid photography of a
particular subject, in most cases this is pictures of people.
History
One early documentation project was the French Missions
Heliographiques organized by the official Commission des Monuments historiques
to develop an archive of Frances rapidly disappearing architectural and human
heritage; the project included such photographic luminaries as Henri Le Secq,
Edward Denis Baldus and Gustave Le Grey.
In the US, photographs tracing the progress of the American
Civil War (1861-1865) by Mathew Brady archive of photographs ranging from
records of battle sites to harrowing images of the dead by Timothy O’Sullivan
and evocative images by George N. Banard.
Since the 1990’s an increased interest in documentary
photography and its longer term perspective can be observed. Nicholas Nixon
extensively documented issues surrounded by American life. South African
communities. Antonin Kratchvil photographed a wide variety of subjects
including Mongolia’s street children for the Museum of Natural History.
Techniques used in documentary photography
There are 2 main techniques used in documentary photography.
1. Lighting-
Lighting is a complex topic, and the quality of the light may vary greatly from
the blue light of a shaded area or the prominently orange light of a lit up
area. A very useful feature, found in most high quality digital cameras is
called white balance. White balance basically reads the colour of light and the
exposure and corrects it so you can get the best picture possible.
2. Exposure
and colour control- A typical digital camera has many more built in controls
than a film camera. It can measure both the intensity and colour of the
illumination. The solution to an exposure and colour problem lies in the
ability of digital camera to make test exposures.
Photographer
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz
Manual
Rivera-Ortiz is an American documentary photographer, he is the author of
several photographic collections and the recipient of a number of awards.
Rivera-Ortiz is best known for his social documentary photography of peoples
living conditions in less developed nations. Travelling widely, his photography
focuses on humanitarian issues often ignored by mainstream media. His work is
represented in the permanent collection of several museums, including George
Eastman House International Museum of Photography and the Museum of Photography
and Film.
Bibliography
Photo 1- www.bbc.co.uk
Photo 2- jessienoochies.wordpress.com
Photo 3- blog.hopeglory.com
Photo 4- www.mothermedia.co.uk
