Documentary Photography reconsidered (Bogre, 2019)
Bogre explores throughout her book what truth is and how it came to be “chained” to documentary. She points out that there are various types of truths, moral, material, truth of impression and truth of form (Bogre, 2019:28).
She asks how documentary photography can relate to the truth when it is only a representation and therefore can only be a part of the truth? She quotes Stephen Mayes who says “Factual images have always been used to tell lies”.
Bogres underlines that we understand that a photograph is not reality, but is a representation of reality, part captured in the moment and the rest supplied by the photographer. They are a “decontextualised representation of reality recorded by a subjective human being”, who makes choices before, during and after taking them (Bogre, 2019:58). Such a representation always involves a mediation and transformation, a telling of the truth as the photographer sees it.
She suggests that photographs may be best thought of as an expanded notion of the truth and having various layers, actual, indexical, situational, or universal (Bogre, 2019:58):
- Actual: accurate facts
- Indexical: accurate detail
- Situational: accurate situation
- Universal: accurate in its transferrable universal meaning
I agree with Bogre’s premise that photographs still have evidential status even though there is the knowledge that they can manipulated. Courts use photographs as evidence and juries believe in them, even though it is acknowledged that a photographs “truth” can be challenged. Every image has been processed.
The truth of an image is also dependent on the relationship between the photograph and the viewer, as the viewer will also project their imagination. She sets out a covenant of trust between viewer and photograph that “imposes on the documentary photographer layers of responsibility and accountability” (Bogre, 2019:121).
My reflections:
I first encountered Michelle Bogre talking in a webinar last year, see: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/photographer-talks/documentary-reconsidered/
At that time she made me really consider trust, and whose truth is in an image; I am well aware now that
“There is a difference between what is shown in the image and what is shown by the image” (Bogre, 2019:128).
What has been interesting for me reading her book is to delve deeper into the various layers of truth that may exist in an image, especially in this age of digital photography. Bogre actually prompts us to think whether a digital photograph is a photograph or should it have a new term? Should we have new rules for documentary photography now that we have control over instantaneous capturing unlike earlier periods – this would help us to confirm truths. In her webinar (AOP, 2020) she helpfully suggests that there might be a difference between “True and truth, between the truth and a truth”, this gives me more rabbit holes to disappear down as I research!
Is truth created or observed?
References:
AOP, (2020). Documentary Photography Reconsidered (2019) At: https://www.the-aop.org/what-s-on/events/current-events/documentary-photography-reconsidered (Accessed 30.6.20).
Bogre, M. (2019) Documentary Photography Reconsidered: History, Theory and Practice. (s.l.): Bloomsbury Academic.
Photography 2: Documentary 