Documentary photography is a type of photography that is used to show events or environments. This type of photography gives us an accurate approach of people, objects, places and events. An example of Documentary photography is war photography. Horts Fass is a photographer who is know for taking war photography. His photos helps showcase events of the past to show the true reality of war. These photos allow us to see the toll war had on peoples lives. Faas idea when taking these photos was to help people see the reality of war. In the two photos i have selected we can see a lady mourning over a dead body which has been wrapped up. In the second photo we can see a man carrying a child who appears to be dead in front of a tank filled with soldiers. Both of these photos help document the effect war has on families which is a side we don’t always see. In my opinion i think the fact that the photos were shot in black and white helps allow the photos to become more powerful due to them allowing the audience to focus on the image as a whole rather than potentially getting distracted by colour and missing parts of the photo

Another photographer i chose to study is Tish Murtha. Tish is a photographer who shoots social documentary photography. The photos of hers that I’ve chosen to analyse are photos that help document Social realism of marginalised communities of the working class life. The first photo of Tish that i have chosen to talk about is a photo called ‘Youth Unemployment’ This photo was taken in 1981. In the photo we can see a young man sitting in a building with his arms hanging out of a window frame which appears to have the glass missing. I think this photo is very powerful in documenting poverty in the working class. This photo could also help connote loneliness to due the person in the photo appearing sad and alone. The use of the the black and white also helps add to the felling of loneliness due to grey usually being a colour that contrasts loneliness. Another photo by Tish which is called ‘Juvenille Jazz Bands’ is another photo that helps document poverty of working class communities in the 80’s. In this photo we can see a few kids sitting around playing with each other however in the background we can also see more kids attempting to tip over a car. This photo is able to show us the affect unemployment had on youths in the 80’s and the effect it had on behaviour. This photo could lead to us suggesting that due to the unemployment in the 80’s it lead to kids causing mischief due them not having anything else to do as the were also a part of the working class community.

In my opinion i think that both of these photographers have successfully documented particular events which can be used as a record to see how things have changed and to also be used as a way to compare realities as the years have gone on. I believe the fact that both these photographers chose to shoot in black and white also allow the photos to be more powerful as it allows the viewers to be able to see the image as a whole rather than getting distracted by colours or for other colours to potentially over power a certain point in the photo making the meaning of the photo change or causing the photo to not be as strong. After thinking about the aim of what both these photographers tried to achieve i think they both successfully achieved these whilst also creating a deep meaning to the photos which is sometimes hard to do.

Horst Faas- War photographer

Tish Murtha- Social documentary photographer documented Social realism, Marginalised communities and Working class life.

Tish Murtha. 2016. Tish Murtha. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tishmurtha.co.uk/about-1.html. [Accessed 25 November 2020].

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/may/11/photographer-horst-faas-in-pictures

There are four different of research these include Primary, Secondary, Quantitative and Qualitative.

Primary Research is research that you find out yourself from things such as Surveys, Observations, Focus groups, Interviews etc. There are problems that you may face when doing primary research such as you may upset the person you are interviewing which therefore makes your research unethical. Another problem is that people may lie when you ask them questions which therefore makes your research unreliable. Another problem you may face is people may not want to participate in your research which leads to the research becoming time consuming. An example of Primary Research is an Interview. This is when you sit someone down and ask them unstructured questions and they then have to answer. This type of research could face many problems. The first problem it may face is being unreliable as people may lie when answering questions. Another problem that could be faced is that it could be unethical as the person who’s asking the questions may ask a person question which upsets the person being interviewed which therefore leads it it being unethical. Another problem that could be faced is that people may not want to take part in the interview which could lead to the research being time consuming. However choosing a focus group for your research is very useful as i allows you to find a group that is only interested in what you’re studying so it makes the research easier to conduct and allows it to become more reliable. Primary research helps you to develop your ideas and work as it allows you to understand more about what you’re studying and to gain better knowledge for your work. This type of research can be used within a photographic projects as it allows you to gather information and find out what type of things people would like to see photographed in my work.

Secondary Research is research that has been done by somebody else. Types of secondary research are books, magazines, news, government research, blogs, the internet etc. Problems can be faced from this type of research such as the research being bias, unreliable or fake which means you have to find more than one source to gather your information to make sure it is true. This type of research can help you develop ideas as it allows you to gain a bigger understanding on what you’re trying to find out and it allows you to see what others also found out which helps widen your knowledge. This type of research can be very useful as it allows you get more than one persons views on a subject that you may be studying. This type of research is useful as it can also be more cost effective and potentially gives you more information to find. This type of research is useful in photographic projects because it allows to see what work has already been produced and gain ideas for my own work.

Quantitative research is research that include things such as surveys and questionnaires which helps produce statistics on the data with the use of bar charts, pie charts etc. Quantitative research creates numerological data. This type of research is useful because it creates statistical analysis which allows it to be easier read. This type of research can be useful in photographic projects because it allow me to obtain data on a certain subject to find out what area may be popular for me to then interpret it into my work.

Qualitative research is research that focuses on how people feel and how it impacts behaviour. This type of research is done through the use of focus groups, observations and action research. An advantage of this type of research is that its flexible and open ended which helps lead you to answers you may not have expected to received. This type of research can be useful in a photographic project can help me find out how people may feel about a certain topic and whether or not it would be considered unethical to showcase a certain event