What are the differences & similarities between photography as art & as documentation
- Thread starter amygrace
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- mark
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no. too deep for me.
i just enjoy taking photos.
i just enjoy taking photos.
Photo-documentary is generally a more planned and long termed project while photojournalism can be more spontenous although the two often blend. Documentary can also be more art based and contempary I think, photographers such as Hiroshi Sugimoto, Philip Lorca D-Corcia, Ruth Erdt, etc. People that straddle the line between photojournalism and documentary would be photographers like David Gillanders, Steve McCurry, these projects would start off as photojournalism but the more long term they become it comes into a documentary.
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- Geof
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me neither..
an image will convey the actual information to be used clinically
an image will convey information which the viewer can assimilate to their own ends...even to the point of not taking in all the detail
one is a record shot
the other is a means of conveying emotion
all art is emotive
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Is photo-documentary when you're talking about a photo essay - i.e. a long time spent with a specific subject that aims to tell a story whereas photojournalism is using photography to report a specific news event?
Photography as art versus photography as documentation ... how long have you got? Eugene Atget is a good example of someone who took photographs to help others make art but is now considered an 'artist' in his own right.
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A photo-documentary implies a pre-planned project, for instance the work of Don McCullin on the homeless in London. Although rooted in reality, artistic sensibilities would feature in this sort of work as a means of making the pictures impactful and conveying the message that the photographer wants to put across - for example, a decision to shoot in black-and-white rather than colour to emphasise emotional impact.
Photo-journalism, to my mind, is more to do with recording current events as they unfold, probably in the context of a newspaper story or magazine article. A photojournalist recording the G8 riots or Gordon Brown walking out of No. 10 for example, wouldn't be as concerned with making an artistic statement as a photo-documentarian - although getting the right shot can still speak volumes:
A.
Photo-journalism, to my mind, is more to do with recording current events as they unfold, probably in the context of a newspaper story or magazine article. A photojournalist recording the G8 riots or Gordon Brown walking out of No. 10 for example, wouldn't be as concerned with making an artistic statement as a photo-documentarian - although getting the right shot can still speak volumes:
A.
I think there's no reason why the two shouldn't meet in the middle somewhere - it is possible to have an artistic documentary image that can be used for journalistic purposes - of course - and those images will always be used more often than those with no artistic appeal, but which still contain all the elements required of the event.
When we see an image that we respond to artistically, it has more impact than a 'mere' record-shot.
When we see an image that we respond to artistically, it has more impact than a 'mere' record-shot.