Documentary Photography

Documentary

Documentary is normally of photos being taken of important historical moments which can be saved later for evidence or visual support.

The decisive moment is the fraction of the second where the photographer takes a picture and presents the significance of the story/ event. The following images are examples of decisive moment:








Research artist

A photographer called Henri Carter Bresson is a well known research artist for documentary. The following photos are of his work:



I like this photo because mostly everyone is looking through their binoculars to see what is going on and as the viewer, you start to wonder what everyone is seeing and why they are all fascinated. In my opinion, I think by having most of the people looking at the same direction enhances that feeling because something has happened which has caught the attention of everyone, therefore suggesting something big has happened.



I like this photo because the photographer has managed to capture someone riding their bike in the small gap between the stair and the wall, this helps fill the empty space in the photo and adds an extra interest. Also, the stair curve round almost as if it was going to follow the person riding on their bike. Additionally, due to the slight motion blur from the bike it makes the viewer wonder where the person is going and why are they in a rush.



I like this photo because the arch way and the road behind it helps carry the eye through the image and see all of the details behind the front foreground. The children looking at the camera adds a curiosity feeling in the photo because the children are given the camera puzzled expressions. The children give a sense of innocence to the photo making the arch way appear to act like a rainbow behind them. However, the archway is damaged maybe suggesting that their childhood or innocence is damaged due to their up bringing/ where they are, therefore making the overall photo seem more interesting as you look at it more.



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Best Images

I like this photo because you are able to see down the different colour belts and see how far people have come and look at their progress. Additionally, karate is a lot about etiquette, therefore, lining up in a straight line shows discipline and respect towards the older/ more senior belts. I like how all of the students frame the photo by going to one side to the other and getting smaller as you travel down the line. The students sizing in the photo helps show how far they have come on their journey so far, therefore the bigger you are in the frame the further you have achieved in karate.

I like this photo because the student is kicking as high as she can, showing flexibility and balance. Also, the expression on her face shows her determination, aggression and focus on what she is doing. I like how I've framed this photo because she is slightly off centre but her kick stretches into the frame causes the viewers eye to travel more into the frame.

I like this photo because all of the students in this photo is ready to start a fight and you can see on their faces how they are focused on their opponent in from of them and is ready to move when attacked. Also, I like how they completely fill the frame and we have both young and older students, showing how anyone can do karate at any age.

I like how I have gotten a close up of the students hand because it stands out a lot more compared to my other photos where you're able to see the whole student. I like how I've focused on the hand to help reflect how the student has put focus in her movement in karate to help her achieve more. By only having the hand in the photo helps the viewer just to look at the hand and not get distracted by anything else in the background.

I like how the student is in a strong stance and has just finished attacking her opponent. Also, I have managed to zoom in enough to help fill the frame better and get rid of any negative space around her which could of been distracting or made the image look too busy. By taking a picture of the student in a strong stance helps present how much she has achieved and why she is a higher belt compared to the other students.

I like how I've managed to capture an image of the students blocking a kick, this helps demonstrate their different levels of progress and their knowledge of karate. I like how the students are both different colour belts as well to help show how in karate we all help each other achieve more and progress further and act like a family.



Images that require improvement

I do not like this photo because one of the students is cut out of the frame causing a lot of negative space of the other side. Also, in this photo, they're not doing karate they are just walking back into position to start their fight sequence again making this photo slightly boring and plain.

I do not like this photo because I was not zoomed in close enough, therefore creating a lot of negative space around the whole edge of the photo. Also, because I was not zoomed in, this has made the overall photo look more busy and the main focus is not on the students because there is things in the background which is creating a distraction.



AO3
My idea for recording documentary was to take photos of people doing karate and document their progress within the lesson and how people have progressed up the belts. Many of the artists I have seen take photos of what they see around them and document any events that occur. Therefore I decided to do something similar but on a smaller scale using karate.

I like the photo of the students lined up and you can see all of the different colour belts going down the line to show how far some of the students have progressed upwards and others have only started their journey. This creates and interesting factor of wondering how far they have progressed since and how much work they have done to reach where they were at that point in time.



AO2
To take these photos, I used my Canon 600D camera with a EPS 18-55 Canon lens. Due to being inside with bright studio lights from the room I set my ISO to 200 and had my shutter speed at 1/1000 - I used a fast shutter speed so I could capture the students fast movements easier and avoid any motion blur. I had my aperture set to 5.6 and other times at 8.0 depending on where I was standing in the room. I used a lower aperture to allow less light to come into the lens because the room I was in had very bright lights and I wanted to avoid getting overly exposed photos.
















AO1
Many of the artists I researched converted the photos to black and white and took many pictures of the environment around them. I wanted to create a similar affect by taking pictures of my surroundings when I was in karate and document what I saw. However, most of their photos did not follow a similar genre when my only focuses on karate. Additionally, to represent that I understood how the artists produced their work I could of converted my images into black and white, however, I decided to keep them in colour.


AO4
These photos are personal towards me because I have been doing karate for over 10 years and is a very important part of my life, therefore, I wanted to document what I saw around me and show their progress. Also, I wanted to represent what I once went through when I was their belt. I decided to keep my images in colour because I wanted to help emphasise what colour belt the student had because that would of represented their progress a lot better.














I like how my photos have turned out because I have using burning and dodging to create a strong contrast between the background and the students doing karate. This helps emphasise how karate can go from one extreme to another, hence why you always have to be in a ready position. Also, I like how I have darkened to background to help the main focus/ attraction the be on the students doing karate. However, to improve my images I would get rid of somethings in the background to help reduce any distractions and make the photo look less busy.