Exercise 2.1
Read the 1939 article on documentary photography by Elizabeth McCausland. Write a short bullet list of McCausland’s main points in your learning log. Explain in your own words, in a single paragraph, why this article is relevant to this part of the course. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:31)
Notes on Elizabeth McCausland’s article:
- Documentary photography has arisen from “creative impulses”
- It uses photography to chronicle the external world, to expose serious issues, unlike previous applications which were comparatively romantic
- Documentary photography uses realism using new eyes
- Facts are more important to represent than a photographer’s personality though he can control the aesthetics by giving the facts a form
- There are many opportunities for publishing honest images of everyday life
- The work of the Farm Security Administration and the Federal Art Project “changing New York” series by Bernice Abbott ae the strongest precedent for documentary photography as the government has been the best sponsor of knowledge
- Photography may have been confused with painting, is it art for instance; however, it is bound to realism, photographs give us truth.
- Society now wants truth and even in art wants content and something that has something to say to an audience.
- Photography can reveal much all at once and is not limited
- Every subject is significant, and a documentary photographer should use technical ability to present in a simple and modest way the wider world, to inform people in a serious and sometimes shocking way.
My response: The premise of McCausland’s beliefs about documentary photography are that truth and honesty are paramount and that this takes precedence above a photographer expressing his personal voice. It must be recognised that this comes after the relaxed period of the 1920s before the serious times of WW2.
Nevertheless, this is mostly how documentary photography is perceived today. Truth, honesty and a message to communicate in the work holds true. I do believe however that we are now aware that it is naïve to believe that camera cannot lie and that a documentary photographer will always present absolute facts; in fact even in the work of the FSA cited as an exemplar by McCausland editorship and purpose was used to drive a certain narrative. Today we are more alert to the possible influences of purpose, editorship, audience and presentation on the bald facts. This article does however remind me of the importance of holding to an intention and my responsibility to the subject as a documentary photographer.
References:
McCausland, E. (1939) ‘Documentary Photography’ At: https://www.oca-student.com/sites/default/files/oca-content/key-resources/res-files/photonotes.pdf
Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.
Photography 2: Documentary 