Documentary photographer

William Klein





After visiting the William Klein exhibition at the Foam gallery in Amsterdam back in January I've felt he'd be great photographer to explore more, seeing as though documentary photography is what i find great interest in. 

The Many Lives of William Klein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnN9LMvjM7Y

This is a great BBC documentary on William Klein's life as a photographer. Much is explored within his years of capturing documentary photography, despite him capturing more genres than just photography. His most famous documentary work was captured in New York city, his book on this photography is looked into in this documentary.

Its interesting to see the way in which William Klein worked; seeing his reasoning behind his images, why he liked certain images, what the society was like the many years ago he was capturing images of them. He had an unusual vision of New York and portrayed that through his documentary photography. What I'm probably most interested in exploring is the difficulties or confrontation a documentary photographer may have faced during their career, and the way in which they dealt with that. I enjoyed seeing Martin Parr, magnum photogpraher appear in this documentary film as he too is a photographer i hope to explore as he too captures documentary photography. 

It was also great to hear William Kleins personal views and stories behind the images which i was lucky enough to see in the Amsterdam Exhibition.

Ethics of photography

Ethics of street photography




Heres a short article by the BBC interviewing Eric Kim a very well known modern day street photographer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/21532400

One question and answer i particularly found interesting in the article was the first one:

" What would you say you aim to capture in your street photography?

My aim is to uncover the joys and also the pains of human existence in society. Having studied sociology at UCLA as an undergraduate, I am interested in studying people and how society creates certain pressures and expectations of them.

As a photographer, I see myself as a sociologist, with a camera as my research tool to observe and record the people and world around me. "

Although this is obviously an article which is supposed to be regarding the Ethical concepts surrounding street photography in particular, i just think the last line of Eric Kims answer is something which is relatable to my own reasoning for why i like capturing documentary photography; "with a camera as my research tool to observe and record the people and world around me."

Heres a video i found on Youtube posted by Eric Kim. In this video he can see seen discussing the ethics of street photography. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UqY4NEvFSY

Laws surrounding photography.

Photographers rights.



The genre i am probably most interested in when it comes to photography is documentary photography, particularly within the North east of England. 
As a lot of documentary photography is obviously about documenting things, that often means the photographer has to take to public places such as the streets, town centres or the seaside for example. 

Many myths & truths circulate this concept of photographers photographing in public areas in terms of what they are legally aloud to do and not to do. 



The New Street Photographer's Manifesto
Tanya Nagar

Pages 70-71

As i found in my first project which was actually street photography, although i received no problems from the authorities or anyone on the street i did receive many many looks from people upon the street whom were clearly wondering what i was doing or why i was taking photos. this was something i had to learn to not let bother me, something which helped me do this was becoming clued up upon the rights a photographer has when taking photographs, especially in public areas. 

I came to find there was not many rules which could restrict me from capturing images and documenting the streets and public areas. Being aware of these 'myths and truths' are something which i feel you must know as a documentary photographer just incase you do get approached or  questioned by anyone. 





Photographers Rights Card

This is something regarding the laws surrounding photographers which a photographer can carry around as a small card in their camera bag in order to give proof of these laws and protect them to a certain extent. 

Much more information which goes into greater detail surrounding the likes of wildlife photography and studio photography can be found in the UK Photographers Rights Guide.