Documentary Photography

Richard's Barber Shop: Image from "Store Front- The Disappearing Face of New York"

When hitting the streets on my own personal photography projects I have always struggled asking people if I could take pictures of them. Much like Agee, I always struggle with the issue of trying to remain true to my photography versus exploiting the subject. I feel that through this conflict and through Agee and Evan’s genuine concern for their subject, they were able to take respectable photographs. On the other hand, Caldwell and Bourke-White took misleading photographs and accompanied them with manufactured quotes and captions. I think in many situations a photograph can speak for itself. Unless the photographer is trying to give the viewer a message a simple photograph should be able to evoke some sort of response from the viewer. Sometimes, as a supplement, a quote or caption can help the viewer understand what the photographer was trying to do with the picture. Either way, I found the fabrication of quotes in “You Have Seen Their Faces”, to be extremely condescending towards the subjects.

Even if photographs are embellished and carefully propped out, they somehow become the images that we remember. Many iconic photographs in our history have been carefully thought out and planned, yet they still remind us of that event or time it depicts. Because of this, documentary photographers should try to remain as true as possible when photographing their subjects. A strength I find in documentary photography is the essence of what it’s supposed to do. It is supposed to document people, time, place, or whatever its subject may be. Reading the articles reminded me of a more recent series of documentary photographs by James and Karla Murray. They have a series of photographs documenting New York City’s timeworn storefronts that have slowly been disappearing.

In their book, “Store Front- The Disappearing Face of New York”, they use photography as a way to document storefronts throughout the city. They interview the owners and customers of these storefronts and publish they interviews along with pictures of the storefronts. If anything, what this type of photography does is archive an important part of our history. The city storefronts are a huge part of New York, and through these photographs even if the stores are closing there will be a legacy. Of course, this is a bit different than the documentary photographs of the people during the Great Depression. But overall, I think that there is virtue in an honest photograph that can capture a passing moment in history.