Lecture 8: Photograph as a Document

A while back we had a lecture on Photography which I found to be quite interesting. We were talking about the importance of Photography and the many uses it has. I've always thought photography to be significant and powerful as there is so much you can do with it. Photographs don't always have to be creative pieces of work, but instead can be used to inform and educate people, advertise, persuade and most commonly document. When Photography first came about this is what it was predominately used for as it was much quicker than painting, and much more accurate. 

Or was it? When photographers started becoming more creative with the camera and thinking more about the powerful messages behind their photographs, scenes were often staged and in some case the photographer would wait for the most opportune moment to take the picture rather than capture the action as it happened. This made it hard to determine what was real and what was fake. Either way, this didn't detract from the powerful messages that were put across. A good example of this is Don McCullin's "Shell Shocked Soldier". You can't see the events of the war, but the horror and terror from it is still documented on this man's face. The title of a photograph can usually give you insight on the event or what the photograph captures, but here you don't really need it as the shock captured speaks for itself.

Shell Shocked Soldier - Don McCullin

Another point that was raised that I found particularly interesting was the photographer's position having a huge impact on how the photographed is perceived. If the photographer is acknowledged when the photograph is being taken this can change the entire atmosphere of the image. If they go unnoticed this would usually suggest that the photograph is more accurate account of what happened at the event, especially in large crowds. I also like that regardless of whether the people captured in the photo see the photographer or not, this will never give us insight to photographer his/herself as they never get seen stood behind the camera. A similar thing goes for animation. When you look at a piece of work you usually take in the characters and events that are being brought to life, and never really think that they have been created by someone. It's almost as if the subjects are completely oblivious to the artist just like when the photographer goes unnoticed. 

Duck Amuck

Chuck Jones of Warner Bros. broke this "4th wall" in his animation Duck Amuck. The short was released in 1953 and features Daffy Duck talking to and being tormented by the animator, who was constantly making changes to the background and Daffy himself. The short was groundbreaking at the time as it was something that hadn't been experimented with before, and was a playful way of involving the animator, who normally is unseen.