Documentary

Documentary 

"refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life"

Image Bank

Henri Cartier-Besson 

French photojournalist Henri Cartier-Besson came up with the idea of the Decisive Moment. "The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself." Basically the decisive moment is a moment in an event that represents the entire event. So instead of the Photographer taking a burst shot of a moving bicycle the photographer would take one well timed shot of the bike in the perfect spot. This requires a lot of timing and framing with some planning to get the correct photo. Henri Cartier-Besson has many photos that document the lifestyle in France at the time of each photo. His use of the Decisive Moment is evident throughout many of his photos and his most known work is photos featuring his use of Decisive Moment. 

This photo is a key demonstration of Henri Cartier-Besson's use of the Decisive Moment as the single image shows the event in its entirety as we can see that the woman is attempting to jump the puddle without seeing her start and land. It is also well framed so that we can that we can see the reflection of her jumping in the puddle beneath. We also get a good view of the landscape that she is in which comments on the lifestyle and area she is in. 

This photo is another Decisive Moment shot as the entire event is a man cycling past a staircase but Besson has timed the shot to get the exact moment that displays the entire event in a way that he likes. It is timed so that the bike is in the gap of the stairs perfectly so that we can see the bike in full without the bars getting in the way. We get a sense of movement as their is motion blur on the cyclist. 

This photo also follows the idea of the Decisive Moment as it is a highly planned and thought out shot. The photo has been framed specifically so that we get the birds and the woman taking up the centre and the top left of the frame but we also get the downwards staircase. The light coming down shoes that it is an exit or roof as there is an additional, brighter source of light coming down. The Decisive Moment used is the moment of when the birds move out of the woman's way which displays the entire event in one single photo. The preparation for this shot would have involved waiting for someone to come and set the birds off.


Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was an American photographer and photojournalist, she is best known for her work on the Depression-era. Her work humanised the effects of the Great Depression. Her work caused for governments to help out certain camps of people who had been harshly effected by the Great Depression. She is most known for her photo "Migrant Mother" which depicted the harsh effects of the great depression. 

Shoots

Chosen 20 Photos

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea with the street shoot in Paris which took up the entirety of my finale 20 images. I wanted to take photos that portrayed the entire event. The entire trip was visiting the Musée d'Orsay but I didn't want to include any pictures of the actual art but rather focus on the actual event of going there. The first part of the event was walking to the Musée d'Orsay and seeing street life in paris and I managed to take good amount of photos that resemble the people and street landscape. Then I only chose a few pictures from the actual Musée d'Orsay itself as alot of it didn't really fit the style of the decisive moment but two or three really did give the impression of summing up the art and the people there. The next part of the event was leaving in the rain, this allowed for showing the idea of people reacting to the rain.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

My photos were all shot an a Cannon 5D, most photos were shot with a low aperture around f4 but certain shots required a change in settings but most photos used similar settings. All photos were put into photoshop and edited. I wanted to keep photos undersaturated in most places as most photos were in the rain, the exception to the undersaturation was the photos actually shot in the Musée d'Orsay as they were indoors and had a high key lightening compared to the over cast outside. 

A01: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.


My research into Henri Cartier Besson was key in my deveolpment of my photos as I wanted to make my photos show the entire event rather than one moment. my research into documentary also helped as some of my photos do not follow the decisive moment but instead follow other documentary codes.