I have included this as a new page as I don't think it fits in with any of my assignments but it is something that needs at least a few words written about it.
Due to recent horrific events ( a Soldier tragically murdered in Woolwich) and the amount of coverage it made me question just how much needs to be shown. It seems these days that everyone has a camera phone and takes pictures using it which they feel free to broadcast on social media sites. I appreciate that these events need to be shown, and you only need to look at the work of photographers such as, Robert Capa to be aware of the fact, I do think it maybe time for the average person to leave this sort of work to professionals like Robert Capa or Brian Aris who took gritty photographs without being too intrusive.
I asked myself if I had been there would I have been comfortable photographing the events, and I came to the conclusion that I would be unable to take the photographs, I would feel as if I had almost helped magnify personal tragedy.
This is something that I accept is open to debate, and these 'musings' are not complete at the moment but a work in progress. I may either finish or delete this page before formal assessment my mind is open at the moment.
My Tutor has seen this page and liked it therefore I have decided to add a bit more to it, in fact I suspect this page will be added to at various times during the course of this module.
One think I think we need to ask is 'are we now desensitized to the world around us, not just in respect to taking photographs of peoples tragedy's but to every day life, I watched a programme recently not connected to photography but relevant in many ways. One of the scenarios was a blind man with his dog in a restaurant having some food and a bottle of wine was on the table, they then had a woman go over to him and after making a fuss of the dog she helped herself to some of his wine, some people looked and made comments amongst them selves but no one approached the woman. This event went on for several minutes with her taking chips from his plate and finally taking his bottle of wine.
One youngish girl did tackle the woman and ask if she thought it was appropriate to take from his plate the women replied he won't mind. It was only when she took the remains of the bottle of wine and left the restaurant that people gave chase. Interestingly no one asked the man how he felt about it all.
This brings me on to would any one be prepared to ask before taking photographs of something that could be deemed personal to the people involved or do we really not care about others anymore so long as we have a photograph we can share and may be in some cases laugh about.
The more I think about it the more I sadly realise there are a lot of people out there that are only interested in what they can get for themselves.
I find street photography very difficult to do, somehow feeling I could be intruding on some thing that people don't want captured, I would be unable to take photographs of a terrible event unless I had been either paid to do it as part of my job or someone had asked me to record the events. I also hope I would be strong enough to confront anyone I thought was being intrusive.
Another subject is weddings, why does everyone think they have the right to take photographs with their phones, etc especially when they have been asked by the vicar or other official not to' are we that uncaring about the bride and grooms feelings that we will happily ruin a professional photographers photographs by standing in front of them and using flash which is un necessary and risks blowing the white of the dress beyond repair.
I have read a few articles recently by photographers talking about this, no one is asking for guests not to take photographs but just to be respectful of the wedding party, after all as guest they should be there to enjoy the ceremony not be concerned with getting their photographs so they can be the first to upload them to social media sites. I also have some experience of this having been asked by some friends to photograph their wedding, I knew them well and they liked my style of work, we got to the church and the guests were asked not to take photographs during the ceremony but you have guessed it out came their phones and at times they even stood in front of me! It was very hard to keep my cool and say nothing as I didn't want to ruin the day.
I have been reading the book 'Photography a Critical Introduction' further details of this book are referenced under reading material. I wanted to try and understand the way a photojournalist works in general and also about documentary photography is it different from photojournalist work. I found out that within two decades photography was being used to chronicle war and also that war, travel and photo journalism have no definitive explanation and at times blend together. This book is very much a work in progress and something that I pick and chose the parts I want to read.
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