Documentary

Documentary photography is a raw style of photography that illustrates the lifestyle, activities or sceneries of people, places, objects and events. Documentary photography usually consists of photographs taken over a period of time representing a particular theme. Some documentary photography is used to inform the audience about issues of concern and use it as a way of sharing a message of injustice. However, it can also be used to show individuality and diversity within society.

These images below are photos that I feel I can capture myself and represent mainly family and lifestyles of individuals.

Artists Research

One of the Artist I am using for inspiration is Nick Waplington. He is a British photographer who was born in 1965 and bases his work in London and New York, his work has been shown at many different exhibitions such as the Tate Britain. He is well known for his documentary series 'the living room' , spending four years of documenting the life of two working class families. 

These photographs by Nick Waplington are all part of his living room series and I chose these images as although they are very basic in nature, they represent many stereotypes which I think are significant.

In this image, I think the idea that the women are all together very much represents the stereotypes of breadwinners and homemakers as all the women are at home and are nurturing the children and are fulfilling the stereotype attached to the very traditional view of how women should live their lives. 

 This image shows to me that although working class life lacks many luxuries, children still get to fulfil their childhood by getting to experience the small things like getting an ice-cream from the ice cream man and the 'decisive moment' this shot was taken shows what the children in the image want without literally showing them directly having ice-cream

I think this photo is very powerful as it shows the huge amount of freedom that the children have. In my view this shows me that these children have way too much freedom and are often un supervised even at the youngest of ages. However, the girl was the first thing I noticed as it stood out due to where she is positioned which is by a line of composition, which as Nick Waplington represents, can be very powerful.  

I have chosen to focus my work specifically on Henri Cartier Bresson. He is the founder of modern photojournalism and was a french humanist photography and is famous for his intuitive concept of the decisive moment in 1952, this is a moment in which some individuals would described as the 'perfect moment', capturing the psychological elements of a real life scene spontaneously that expresses the essence of that situation. I hope to translate this through my images by showing a journey through time that incorporates a political and cultural message. 

These images below are by Henri Cartier Bresson, I think his photos really capture the diversity within different cultures, political message, a story and seriousness.

 The first image was taken in Tokjo, Japan in 1965, I feel this photo is representative of the lack of family intimacy within Eastern Culture, this is shown through the mourning of the individuals yet none of them are showing any forms of affection or passion for each other and are all facing away from one another. This to me shows that our western culture's coping mechanisms are very reliant on other people whereas in Eastern culture they are very much independent when it comes to expressing and dealing with emotions. 

This image to me really resonates the culture in Spain in 1933 when this image was taken illustrating the fun children have without the need for modern technology or even objects. However, it seems to me that they are bullying the child with the crutches as their form of fun, representing the lack of acceptance of those who are different to you in previous history. I think the framing of the shot is signifiant as it creates a border round the subjects in the photo which to me connotes that this image is solely one of many representations of the youth's life, and is unique in its own way.

 On the other hand, this last image which was also taken in Spain contradicts my views on the image above as it shows three women from very different backgrounds spending time together. Their care for each other is illustrated through them all touching each other and although their faces are stern it is obvious to me that they all have a relationship with one another. The fact that these images are black and white removes the concept of colour creating a mood, which to me creates a very raw and natural and serious feeling

I think Nick Waplington and Henri Cartier Bresson have some similarities as they both capture elements of culture throughout the activities they are doing, I think that Bresson's concept of the decisive moment is seen in many of Waplington's images which could show that Waplington has been influenced by his technique. However, Henri Cartier Bresson very much looks at a range of diverse cultures and compares them to each other, but they are mainly alike.

There are many ideas that I can think about doing whilst creating my documentary portfolio.

My inspiration from Nick Waplington is to carry my camera with me wherever I go to capture the lives of the individuals around me. I will be focusing on using inspiration from Henri Cartier Bresson as I want to incorporate a subliminal political message. I will also convert my images to black and white, to show a closer link to my chosen research artist.

In my shoots I visited Oxford Circus, Soho, Earls Court and Shepherds Bush. From the photographs that I have gathered I will be using the title 'A Trip through London Town', which shows the journey, sights and activities one would see when they venture into the hustle and bustle of London.

AO1: You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued

The photos circled in purple are the photos that I used.
The photos cirlced in red are my photos to improve
my photographs crossed out in purple are photos that are very inconsistent with my theme.
The photos cirlced in blue are photographs that represent my theme well but they do not look professional enough to use due to exposure and blur.

My Best Images

 AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Photos to improve

I picked the first photo for improvement as I feel that the blur in the image doesn't illustrate my aim. To improve this image I would use a tripod for a more steady photograph. I would also increases the shutter speed from 1/25 to 1/125 to take a better freeze frame shot.

I picked this photograph to be improved because although it does capture the homelessness in london, I think the framing and angle in the picture fails to bring enough focus specifically on the tent. I would improve this by changing the framing and taking the shot from straight on in line with the tent, ensuring that I dont capture anyone or anything else in the shot.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for my documentary project was to go out in London with my camera ready at all times, I took a picture every time the scenery around me changed or when something stood out. I was inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson to try and capture elements of British culture and deliver a political message and Nick Waplington inspired me to carry my camera on me at all times. The theme for my series is a to capture a political message and best represents the type of people and the variations that we have within British culture.

Most of the photos in my documentary series are from 2 out of 3 of my independent shoots in Oxford Circus and Shepherds Bush. It shows steps that one would take when travelling into the centre of London and an image of buses to show when I changed destination I used the image of the infamous London red buses to create a transition.  These photos below I have picked to talk about as I think they represent my series well.

My inspiration from Henri Cartier Bresson to deliver a political message, focused on the extremely high amount of homelessness that is found in the UK especially London. The type of attention the homeless recieve is astonishingly low and this was evident in most of my photos. Specifically this image below where proximity places a huge part in demonstrating peoples ignorance to those in need, as there is a literal semi-circle creating space between the homeless man and the rest of the public.

This photo to me was inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson as it to me best screams British culture due to the Red Buses, not only because they are very infamous and exclusive to London; but as the buses have been perfectly aligned in a row, and to me this links to british culture as we are perceived as very organised people. It also links perfectly to British culture as it shows how ever-changing our society is as there are new buses next to the old models, this to me shows our country's constant urge to be up to date with the newest and most glamorous trends and designs.

I chose this image as it strongly represents a political message as Henri Cartier Bresson demonstrated in a lot of his work, it shows that people in our society are very willing to stay up to date with the news of the world and politics which is positive. However,the image shows the Evening Standard which is a predominately right-wing as edited by George Osborne and has been strongly criticised for its conservative stance. This is ironic to me as it freely distributed around London, which can be viewed as an issue as many people are politically informed through this newspaper which shows a bias stance, in turn affecting things such as voting behaviour. Also the composition highlights the newspaper and the low aperture blurs out the background creating a strong focus on the newspaper.

This photo was taken in west fields in Sheperds Bush. I chose this photograph as a signifier for our western cultures strong consumerist society, showing the constant need for us to try and look our best and spend lots of money. It also shows the diversity in London as there are people from all races in this photo. In the middle there is a muslim family indicated by the women wearing headscarves which to me represents the growing population of the islamic community in the UK, specifically London.

I chose this photograph as it required me to find the decisive moment, as inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson whilst on my journey out of London. I took this photo by waiting for the moment where everybody settled down on the train, the men stereotypically opened their newspapers and the younger generation put in their headphones. In this image you can see that there is no form of communication between individuals, to me showing the very reserved nature of our British Culture.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops

I used a Canon EOS 1300 at a shutter speed of 1/25.For my indoor shots I used either IOS 400/800 and for outdoor shots I used IOS 200 or 100 in the day time. Most of my images in day time ranged between and f stop of 6 and 8.0 at night f stop 4.5 and 6.0 with an IOS of 800 and over . The aperture in my photographs was not an issue as I had come to grips with what aperture goes best with what shutter speed and IOS. I tried to capture as many shots in focus as possible by taking my time when manually focusing my image. However, at some points I used auto focus as it was easier as it was not practical for me to use a tripod in the busy streets of london. However, in this photo below my exposure was too high as the lighting from the shop window meant I needed to adjust the IOS setting. 

I think there is a message in this picture showing the contrast between the life of the poor and the wealthy, as individuals that fit this category cross paths.  As I would like to use this image in my documentary series I will use Photoshop to decrease the exposure and make the photo better.

To improve my images I put them into Photoshop and used basic editing tools such as Brightness/Contrast and Exposure to create better defined and sharper images. For one of my images I used the crop tool as I thought the photos all look better when they are of the same size. I also used the white balance tool for some inside shots in which the lighting appears yellow. I also used the burn tool for images with the homeless in it to highlight what I imagine to be a strong feeling of Isolation. 

 As I am focusing my work on inspiration from Henri Cartier Bresson, I have used Photoshop to make my images black and white. Below is how I came to my final images.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My artists research was really helpful as they both contributed to helping me come out with the series of pictures that I chose. Nick Waplington's techniques were the most helpful such as carrying the camera wherever you go and trying to capture shots that are as raw as possible. However, most of my inspiration came from Henri Cartier Bresson as it made me bring cultural aspects into my photos specifically focusing on British Culture, also he is known for being good at demonstrating a political message which I feel I managed to capture in many of my photos, he also gave me the idea to convert my photographs into black and white due to the story to my images.

AO4:  Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

I believe I have produced a strong series of images that tell a story and deliver a political message. My images have been strongly inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson, specifically his black and white photography as it takes away focus on the colours that are present in the image and draws attention to the actual subjects, creating a more serious and story-like mood to my images, which is how I want them to be perceived.

Documentary Portfolio from mayakirtleyx