Documentary photography is, in my opinion, one of the noblest, most socially useful and most personally rewarding pursuits one can engage in with camera in hand.
Photograph by David Turn from ‘Wales 1970s’ published by Café Royal Books.
It is regrettable that fashion and the death of magazines that relied upon documentary photography and its subgenre photojournalism have conspired to assign the genre into the waste bin of history only to be revived and celebrates by the likes of Café Royal Books, but that should not put off contemporary would-be documentary photographers.
Documentary photography at its best frames a mirror before the events, people and places of its time and is even more important in an age where entertainment is preferred to information, fantasy is preferred to fact and religion is preferred to science.
Against this background, documentary photography is an act of resistance born of seeing the world and all within it with supreme clarity.
Even if documentary photography’s current lack of fashionability and respectability, sees the genre absent from galleries, away from museums, off the television and out of print, I encourage all who may be so inclined to take on its mantle and practise it each and every day, where you live, where you work and in the streets of your city, town and country.
Do so especially if you are one of those whom the gatekeepers reject, whose experiences and views of the world are traditionally denied and ignored.
Do so especially when the gatekeepers may appear to accept your right to exist and be a documentary photographer but dictate rules and regulations at you that are designed to keep you, your vision and your work under control, compliant and conforming.
Do so because your right to to be you, to see as you do, to depict as you do and to tell your stories in your own way is unassailable no matter what lies you are told and what power games and punishments are enacted against you.
Above all, documentary photography is fun, demanding as it does a deep and constant engagement with this world and all that is in it to the point where it is possible to enter a flow state, also known as being in the zone.
Documentary photography is, in my experience, the surest way to achieve flow state that I know, a gateway into sheer joy.
Ways and means of production
The hardware and software of digital photography have come a long way since it began replacing analog film-based photography to the point where most cameras, lenses and processing software will do the job well enough now.
While most of the wide range of the analog era’s cameras, lenses and types of films, processing and printing materials no longer exist, contemporary digital cameras offer analogies of some of those upon which documentary photographers once relied:
Rangefinder cameras in 120 rollfilm and 35mm formats.
Single lens reflexes aka SLR.
Twin lens reflexes aka TLR.
View cameras in field camera and studio versions.
Fuji Professional 6×9 aka Texas Leica
Linhof Master Technika Classic 4″x5″ sheet film view camera.
Leica M7 rangefinder camera
Mamiya 7 II interchangeable lens 120 rollfilm rangefinder camera, photograph courtesy of Japan Camera Hunter.
Rolleiflex f/2.8 Twin Lens Reflex
Zeiss Contax N1 single lens reflex camera.
The mirrorless cameras of the analog era and now the digital age offer the advantage of silent operation and the lack of mirror slap and shutter shake, especially when shooting in electronic shutter mode.
Without the ongoing punitive financial burden of film, processing, proofing, printing and archival storage, digital photography is more affordable than analog so consider future-proofing and capability-expanding yourself through wise investment.
Hybrid digital mirrorless cameras open up the world of documentary moviemaking in ways that never existed for analog just with a little extra expenditure on video production accessories.
Cambo WRS-1600 shift/swing/tilt digital view camera for use with Hasselblad, Leaf, Phase One and Sinar digital backs and a range of digital cameras via adapters.
Fujifilm GFX 50S medium format DSLR-style camera with vertical battery grip.
Fujifilm X-Pro2 digital rangefinder camera with Fujinon XF 23mm f/2.0 R WR “Fujicron” lens and Fujifilm MHG-XPRO2 metal hand grip, a necessity when attaching lenses larger than this one.
Fujifilm X-E3 rangefinder-style camera with Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 f/2.8 ultra wide-angle lens.
Leica M10 digital rangefinder camera with Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Aspheric lens.
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 DSLR-style camera with Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Aspheric zoom lens.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 rangefinder-style camera with tiling EVF and Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens.
With DSLR giants Canon and Nikon finally seeing the light and slowly coming up with viable soon-to-be-released mirrorless alternatives, and mirrorless pioneers Fujifilm, Olympus and Panasonic already well established with a wide range of mirrorless cameras and lenses at several price points, there has never been a better range of choices in equipment.
Hybrid mirrorless cameras open up the world of documentary moviemaking in ways that never existed during the analog era and, with a little extra expenditure on video accessories, allow you to create professional-quality productions.
British Journal of Photography – Education: the celebrated University of South Wales, Cardiff
ffotogallery – The valleys archive – PDF
Open Society Foundations – Documentary Photography
photoworks – Ideas Series: Café Royal Books
Spitalfields Life – Ron McCormick’s Whitechapel
Spitalfields Life – Ron McCormick’s Spitalfields
Spitalfields Life – Ron McCormick’s Spitalfields & Whitechapel
University of South Wales – BA (Hons) Documentary Photography
Wikipedia – Flow (psychology) – “In positive psychology, flow, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one’s sense of space and time.”
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I will add to this section soon, so please come back again if it is useful.
Fujifilm Rangefinder and Rangefinder-Style Cameras
Fujifilm MHG-XPRO2 Metal Hand Grip for X-Pro2 – B&H
Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless Digital Camera – B&H
Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 23mm f/2 Lens (Graphite) – B&H
Match Technical EP-XP2 Thumbs Up Grip for Fujifilm X-Pro2 (Black) – B&H
The Necessity and Joy of Documentary Photography Documentary photography is, in my opinion, one of the noblest, most socially useful and most personally rewarding pursuits one can engage in with camera in hand.
