| Image Views: 2663 This is Northwestern Atrium Center /Citicorp Center ... a late modernist style structure ... designed by the architectural firm Murphy/Jahn ... This 42 story, 588-foot tall glass-&-steel structure ... was completed in 1987 ... Tomorrow more photos of this place ... EXIF: ISO: 400 ... Shutter-speed: 1/160s ... Aperture:f/8 ... Focal length: 18mm ... Flash: not fired ... Continuing with my write-ups on photography, today more on ... "Documentary Photography" ... Check out these THREE very famous but CONTROVERSIAL photographs: [1] "Raising Flag on Iwo Jima" ... click here ... This is said to be one of the most reproduced photos of all times ... It was taken by Joe Rosenthal [an Associated Press photographer] in 1945 ... It depicts six soldiers hoisting the "Stars and Strips” atop Suribachi Yama, at the tip of Iwo Jima [Japan] during WW-II. This photo won him the coveted Pulitzer Award in 1945 ... It is regarded as one of the most recognizable images of the World War-II ... and has been used on postage stamp and on the cover of countless magazines and newspapers ... However controversy surrounds this … as it is said to “staged” flag raising hours after the original event. [2] "Kiss by the Hotel de Ville" ... click here ... This photo was taken by the famous French photographer "Robert Doisneau" ... This photo of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris in 1950.... is said to be one his most famous works ... Again controversy surrounds this ... as Doisneau apparently saw them kissing and asked them to "recreate" the action for his camera ... So despite the casual "seemingly spontaneous" quality of this photo ... this is a very posed image of the woman Francoise Bornet and her boyfriend Jacques Carteaud ... [3] "Migrant Mother" ... click here ... This portrait of Florence Thompson with her children was photographed by Dorothy Lange in 1930 ... It was meant to document the effects of the Great Depression on the population of America. Although everything about this photo [event, model, location] is real, but the photographer is said to have directed her to pose for the photo ... so controversy surrounds it. The point I’m trying to bring out is that although these photos maybe close to real ... However, the moment it appears to be tampered/staged/directed/posed there are question marks on it's documentary value. All these events actually took place and were recorded on site ... but still there are doubts about their bona fide nature ... “Documentary Photography” /Photojournalism "per se" is an authentic representation of our society ... record of the events as they occured and not as they not as the photographer wanted them to occur ... Quoting from the "code of ethics" of NPPA, "As phojournalists, we have the responsibility to document society and to preserve its history through images” ... The entire edifice of documentary photography is based on the foundation of public trust. Yesterday I wrote that a camera is an imperfect instrument in capturing what our eyes see and that some retouching through processing may in fact bring the photos closer to reality. I still believe that ... However, a key issue is that the moment a photograph is tampered with, it's credibility becomes a suspect and it looses authenticity in public eyes ... So journalistic ethics dictate that documentary photographs are not to be doctored in anyway ... which means these photographs are neither to be staged nor post-processed … Since “public confidence” … is the bedrock of documentary photography ... so any manipulation is considered to be a direct violation of ethical standards … and is sacrilegious … And these days we make a distinction between [1] Art ... and ... [2] Documentary Photography ... with the accepted basic difference being that art photography can be manipulated ... However it is important to remember that the history of photography suggests that it is the "documentary photography" ... which actually elevated photography to the stature of art ... and earned it the same respect as other eatablished art-forms like paintings, sculpture or architecture ... My posts on "Documentary Photography" will continue ...... [Documentary photography - III ... of VI] |
