DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
On The Narrative Level of Photographs:
Photography most immediate quality is its ability to document reality objectively. This documentary (recording) aspect of photography is the one we are most used to in relating to photography. Our instinct is to look at a photograph and assume that it is an accurate representation of the reality it portrays, it shows 'an overwhelming conviction of fact' (Goin 2001). This is a linear/empiric mode of thought that is very easy to grasp. Is not an object reflected through the lens and recorded on the film, very similar to its original shape? Are not the results of capturing a scene into a photograph predictable? In this perception of photography man is a man, a house is a house, and a street is a street. ' ..A photograph – any photograph – seems to have a more innocent, and therefore more accurate, relation to visible reality than do other mimetic objects.' (Sontag 1977) Despite the medium's hundred and sixty years of existence this limited grasp of photography is still entrenched (Goin2001). Walter Benjamin in his seminal 'The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction' talks about the desire of the masses to bring things 'closer' that is, to have a reproduction of reality as valid as reality itself. This attitude towards photography was explained to me by one of my friends: "When I go to
The distinction between reality and photographic reality is easily observed. A comical example is the following anecdote about Picasso and perception of photography: Picasso was painting a portrait of a woman in the presence of her husband. After a while he noticed that the husband was becoming agitated and asked about it. The husband responded that the painting did not look like his wife. Picasso then asked the husband to tell him what does his wife looks like. The man took a photo out of his wallet and said: "This is what my wife looks like." Picasso after carefully observing the photograph commented, "Small, isn't she?" (Gross and Shapiro 2001) A more encompassing view of photography is that '…photographs are as much an interpretation of the world as paintings and drawings are.' (Sontag 1977) '.. And that our conventional consensus of reality is not the only version of reality'. (Gross and Shapiro 2001)
Photography less obvious quality is its narrative quality. The photographic narrative like the literary narrative in many cases starts with a factual reality, 'inherent in the medium is its ability to represent both fact and fiction' (Goin 2001). It aim is to explore, develop, and express aspects that lies beneath the surface. Photography in that sense can be compared to literature. (Whereas documentary photography can be compared to journalism) .