Should street documentary photography be explained in words?

Lead: in the era of reading pictures, online pictures are flooding. You can read a picture in one second, a picture in one minute and a picture in ten minutes. In this era, it is very rare to catch people's eyes with pictures and then cause them to sing. Therefore, some netizens have racked their brains to beautify their photos, and some have added some words to them.

Should street documentaries be explained in words? I think it should be based on personal photography habits, perspectives, expression techniques, as well as the theme, information, atmosphere and other factors of photos.

Photographs of monks in various colors

I think adding some subjective and frivolous captions to some photos with rich information and strong independence will weaken the image and independence of photos and limit the imagination of viewers, which makes people feel redundant.

Photographs of monks in various colors

On the contrary, the author's careful examination of the drawings and accurate supplementary explanations will play a finishing touch. Let's look at an example. You can imagine watching a movie with a written explanation and without overtime.

The picture shows before the Japanese parliamentary election? New Baath Party? The party leader, Yō ichi Masuzoe, gave a speech in the street to canvass votes. Before the election of the House of Representatives, all parties always took to the streets to canvass votes, promising people higher social welfare and a better pension system, and so on. But people are always disappointed after being elected.

Photographs of monks in various colors

So I'll take a photo to illustrate the current social background in Japan. As the general election approaches, politicians have taken to the streets to canvass votes and hype, but the public can never see the faces of politicians clearly. ? In a simple sentence, it explains the shooting time, background and the dissatisfaction and disappointment of the author and the public with politicians. Pun, situational language and love words are more tacit.

It was afternoon when it was taken, and the backlight was positive. If I want to take a clear face, the background will explode badly, so I chose to take a silhouette, and I didn't do much processing later to dim the brightness and deepen the contrast. I don't think most people can understand what the author wants to express if there is no text explanation in this photo. So the photos will fade a lot.

Let's look at another example.

Photographs of monks in various colors

This photo was taken in front of a dry goods stall in Tsukiji market in Tokyo. The layer in the lower left corner is dried squid, and the animal specimen in the lower right corner. Young people and shopkeepers are talking and laughing. There were so many people at the scene that it was difficult to take pictures. I took this photo in the crowd.

Imagine that people kill animals and make specimens. It is not a fool to add angry expressions to animal specimens in order to satisfy human desire for viewing. The fate of a born pig is to be slaughtered. After the panda is born, it can live comfortably in a high-level prison. As the Buddha said, all beings are equal, and equality is there. Maybe only the Buddha knows.

Based on the above personal views, I will give a photo explanation: The happiness of advanced animals is based on the pain of lower animals. ? Subjective writing brings the viewer into the author's inner world. After adding subtitles, I think I photographed myself and animals with my camera.

Look at another example.

I explain this photo like this: office workers wandering outside the gate see the beauty and luxury inside the high wall, which is the door that we have worked hard all our lives, but we have never been able to open. ?

Photographs of monks in various colors

This is a very subjective sentence. The two people in the photo look like office workers, but they may not have thought of opening the door at all. My subjective will gives me another layer of thinking besides photos:? The average annual income of Japanese office workers is more than 200 thousand, but in Japan, the living expenses are high, and they have to support their families and pay for their houses. Some people have worked hard all their lives and can't even save a house. Not to mention the luxurious life like a palace. However, some rich second generation and rich third generation were born without labor and lived a luxurious life.

I use this photo to reflect the phenomenon of uneven social distribution. Later, I changed the color to black and white, darkened the corners and deepened the contrast. The later adjustment is to make the gloomy mood more reflected.

Photographs of monks in various colors

? We play different roles in the city. Did you see your own shadow in the city?

As can be seen from the above example, text interpretation is of great significance to photos. So when we face a photo, we must think it over and give it an accurate explanation. We must not be perfunctory and careless. Or without explanation, give the viewer more associative space.