Reflection end of Part One

What was your idea of documentary photography before you worked on Part One? How would you now sum it up?

I had a good idea what documentary photography was beforehand as this is what I am interested in. I think this is where I show my best work, when its personal to me and telling a story. However, I did not realise how many elements could be used within documentary photography. Pickering’s Public order series for example is not at all what it first seems. Documentary requires a lot more thinking and reading by the viewer which I did not know. My understanding was that documentary photography had to be facts and “in the moment”. I also did not know there are different definitions for documentary which I will talk about in the next question.

What are the differences between documentary, reportage, photojournalism and art photography?

Documentary photography is often seen as a record or document, an accurate representation of an event. There has been a lot of debate about ‘photography and truth’.

Photojournalism is used to describe news imagery. People see this as a factual way of using photography to inform the public of events around the world. However, again, there has been many debates as to weather many newspapers exaggerate the truth with their photographs.

Reportage is used to describe a more closely related subject through storytelling in a subjective way, rather than the objective intentions of photojournalism. Usually one persons point of view is used, showing their emotions and expressions.