Documentary And Story Telling

The tradition of story-telling was brought into the 20^th Century when documentary photography established its beginnings shortly after WW1. It brought real life stories about the masses to the masses. As media titles popped up across the globe, demand grew for the role of photographers to provide stories.

Life magazine, Garment Workers at Play (1938)

Editorial control meant the order of events were often disrupted to produce commercially viable stories. This ‘conflict of interest’ between photographers and the magazine’s creative angle led to photographers publishing their own books to retain editorial control.

Documentary was about representing the people, influenced by Factography and Constructivism from the Soviet Union. The idea that knowledge about the world around would lead to people being better educated, documentary photography was thought to be for the greater good of society.

Emphasis on social documentary can be seen as far back as the 19^th century in works by Lewis Hine and Matthew Brady. Accompanied by descriptive writings, they addressed the plight of child labor, immigrants, war and the poor. Hine and Brady recognised the only way for reform was to educate and inform the public.

Lewis Hine, Child Laborer (1908), USA

Two types of social documentary photography emerged at this time. That of ‘objective’, instigated by August Sander. His homogenous subjects – expressionless, with emotion only conveyed from the context of the setting.  The second described as ‘subjective’ - someone captured in the moment with their expression suggesting the context. Each was thought to favour different techniques such as depth of field and shutter speed.

Peter Wollen highlights how documentary, news and art photographs each reflect  - process, event and state and how this is seen collectively in the narrative of early cinema. He suggests social documentary encompasses all three. Walker Evan’s work with the Farm Security Administration is cited as a prime example, eliciting the ‘snap shot’ style photography and cropping of Reportage.

Walker Evans, Alabama Tenant Farmer (1936), USA

Often seen in news stories, the art of presenting past, present and future, fused together in one single moment ‘the peripateia’ is best seen in the work of Henri-Cartier Bresson. A story told in one single moment. However the chosen composition to do this raises criticism as to the reality and interpretation of events.

Often categorised by its monochromatic qualities until the 1980’s, the truth was associated with black and white. As a shift towards colour grew so did the return to older snapshot styles in a bid to authenticate the colour image as documentary and as a growing art form.