Classification method of documentary photography

"Sketch" Documentary Photography —— News Photography

The feature of sketches is to tell a story in a short time and reflect a social phenomenon, so the information is very concentrated, usually exaggerated, which brings direct impact to people. And news photography has similar characteristics, it emphasizes timeliness, and a picture already contains the complete events of when, where, who and what. At the same time, due to the inherent competitiveness of news media, most news photos have a very strong visual impact, so news photography belongs to this category. For example, masterpieces in the history of photography, * * * and the death of soldiers (shot by robert capa 1936) and the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald (shot by Robert Jackson 1963). Both photos convey very complete information to people, which is shocking.

Many people may object to this division, because news photography and documentary photography have always been regarded as two concepts in parallel, although they have many similarities. I think news photography should belong to a category of documentary photography. If a photo becomes a so-called news photography through mass media, it must be of certain importance and will have a certain social impact. Besides, today is news, tomorrow will be history and tomorrow will be literature. We regard news photography as an independent concept, perhaps because it has strong timeliness and media task. Nor can we separate the blood relationship between documentary photography and news photography.

For sketch news photography, the most basic standards are, of course, timeliness and the integrity of the picture content, and at the same time, it should be able to convey important information and have enough visual impact.

Documentary Photography of "TV Series" —— Reporting Photography and Theme Photography

Tv dramas will be told in a long space around a specific theme, and the actors' performances don't need to be exaggerated like sketches, which are closer to daily life. Similarly, reporting photography or thematic photography is not as strict as news photography, and photographers will not be forced to use a photo to illustrate the problem. They can dig deeper into the theme, show the theme more comprehensively and carefully, and explain the ins and outs of things clearly with a large number of photos with unified style and form. There are many such examples, and it can even be said that this is the backbone of documentary photography. For example, The Story of China-Documentary Photography in Contemporary China contains nearly 200 pictures of nearly 100 contemporary photographers in China. They chose a unique theme or filmed the theme for a long time according to their own perspective, and each group of pictures told us a true story. Watching these stories is like watching a TV series with a real theme as the background. You can understand and feel all aspects of social life from different angles and depths.

In terms of evaluation criteria, the choice of subject matter is more important for reporting photography or thematic photography, which depends on whether photographers can choose valuable subjects from a unique perspective, dig deep into the essence of things and show them in an appropriate way.

"Movie-like" documentary photography

The length of a movie is between a sketch and a TV play. You don't need to tell a story, it's subjective, conceptual and personal. Documentary photography also has such works, which don't contain all the information like news photography, and don't seem to tell a story like report photography or theme photography. They may revolve around a theme, but there is no logic between photos. They are full of photographers' unique style, realism and strong freehand brushwork or symbolism. For example, Alfred Aizenstat's widely circulated "Ethiopian Soldier's Feet", the photographer did not aim the camera at the war and did not shed blood, but a pair of suffering feet mercilessly revealed the cruelty of the war and the hardship of the Ethiopian people's conditions. Another example is The Baker, which originated from The Face of the Times by photographer august sander. On the surface, each frame of photos has no plot connection and each character has no direct relationship, but when they are gathered together, they show the character of a nation. Sander also witnessed history with his photos of all the creatures of the Germanic nation.

In terms of evaluation criteria, for documentary photography with more freehand brushwork or symbolism, the key is to properly grasp the scale of realism and freehand brushwork. Because for documentary photography, the content is the soul, and the excessive pursuit of form has the effect of seeing flowers in the fog, which is likely to violate its purpose. Whether symbolism can be symbolized in place also needs to be pondered, which probably depends on the photographer's attainments.

I wonder if this classification will cause resentment and criticism from colleagues in the photography industry? Photography is an independent art form. At this time, it is so poor that it needs to borrow other artistic styles to explain the problem. What is face? In addition, if a photo contest is held in the future, should the sketch group, TV series group and film group be indicated when soliciting contributions? Isn't this ridiculous? I think the main purpose of classification is to facilitate the establishment of evaluation system for different works after classification, so why not use other artistic styles? Besides, it's just a title. Why not explain the problem? Of course, we can discuss appellation again. milestone

This is a kind of photography of important and influential events, such as wars, political events, major ceremonies, disasters and so on. Undoubtedly, major events are of great significance to the survival and development of mankind, and even affect the course of human history. Therefore, these pictures have precious commemorative significance and historical value for contemporary and future generations, which is enough to help people review the past and learn new things, find the way forward from the photographer's sensitive visual memory, or take fewer detours.

People's lives

There are not only great leaders but also ordinary people in human society. Not only is the sword changing, but the daily necessities are also plain. This kind of photography focuses on the widest range of human life. Whether it's urban or rural, whether it's mainstream or marginal individuals, whether it's fashion or avant-garde, whether it's folk customs, whether it's good, sinful, noble, degenerate, joyful or painful ... it's condensed into wonderful moments, watched, lamented, studied and thought about. ...

Social scene

Human society is a part of the whole natural environment, and people's life activities must have their background environment, including natural environment and artificial buildings. This kind of scenery is different from pure natural scenery, closely related to human activities, and is also an important part of documentary photography. Photographers' records not only show the wonders and magnificence of nature like landscape photography, but also show many aspects of life in a symbolic or revealing process.

The evaluation criteria for major events, people's lives and social landscapes are mainly based on a good grasp of the content, or desperate, or meticulous, or sincere and moving ... If we really want to distinguish between high and low, we must be careful not to stick to the rules, and of course we must meet the aesthetic standards of photography-we can bring more thinking space to the audience through the full impact on the sense of form. Based on the photographer's main shooting motivation, documentary photography can be roughly divided into three categories: social documentary (report), cultural narrative (documentary) and humanistic documentary (diary).

Social documentary (reporting documentary photography):

Documentary photography focuses on reflecting social problems and paying attention to vulnerable groups, including social themes such as hunger, poverty, disease and war, so as to attract the attention of the world and further promote social reform and development. Representative Works: Project Hope by Jie Hailong.

Cultural narrative (documentary photography);

Pay attention to the cultural relics and traditional folk customs that are about to disappear, and leave photographic works as historical materials for future generations. Representative works: Jin Chen's Sichuan Tea Shop.

Documentary humanities (diary documentary photography);

Take people and life as the main line, tell people's stories, show people's modality, reveal the essence of human nature, embody humanistic care, solidify the nuances of life, and witness social changes with small things. Wang Fuchun's masterpiece "China people on the train".