Change the World: Bit by Bit, Moment by Moment

Do Not Forsake Me (Melbourne Australia July 2011)

One of the many wonderful things in my life has been the opportunity to meet and come to know so many fine people through social media platforms such as Facebook (don't let anyone tell you that social media is a waste of time or 'keeps us isolated'). And among these people are many many fine artists. Artists in all disciplines: painters, singers, musicians, songwriters, poets, short story writers, novelists, sculptors. And last but not least, I have met and come to love the work of many wonderful photographers.

Among these photographers is one I've mentioned on this blog before, Doug Berryhill. Doug is an American photographer who has been deep into documenting the people of his hometown. His photos are always finely composed, correctly exposed and all the rest. But way and far far above any technical expertise or even purely aesthetic considerations, Doug's work demonstrates a clear and compassionate understanding of human nature, and in particular the people he knows best: those who live in his community. In my ever so humble opinion, Doug's photographs will one day be recognised as not only an important chronicling of that community, but more widely as significant documents of our times.

But it is not his photography that I want to talk about here today; I want to share with you a post he made sometime recently about photography:

We have allowed the fractures within our societies to endanger our sense of a common humanity. Photography can, bit by bit, moment by moment, help to restore that. Photographs that draw me are those that compel me to see beyond the us versus them mentality.

This is as good a definition of humanist photography as you will find. And, to be honest, it is precisely what draws me to Doug's photographs. And I think it is the same for all of us: we are drawn to photos that speak to us of humanity, of people's love and joys; of their hopes and achievements; of their very 'ordinaryness'. Not that anyone is really merely ordinary of course. But you know exactly what I  mean I am sure.

And a photo doesn't have to be by a big name to have this kind of impact on a viewer either. Family snapshots for example. They bring joy, memories, smiles, tears, comfort and even happiness, to people viewing them. Then there is street photography, which for me at least is about bearing witness to, and the sharing of, the so-called ordinary moments of people's lives which go unnoticed and unremembered. A street photo can stop a viewer in their tracks as what they see there acts as a catalyst for them to feel something; what they see prompts an emotional reaction. This happens simply by them witnessing a fellow human being doing something entirely 'ordinary'.

So, that is what I try to do. I try to demonstrate the things we have in common, the things we share as human beings, by photographing individual people going about their lives. From the specific to the general if you like. As Doug said, moment by moment.

This is an important role to play, this bearing witness. It also carries with it enormous responsibility: I am required to be as honest as I can and to honour the truth as I see it without fear or favour. And, perhaps above all, I must do all of this (even to the technical side of things) to the best of my ability. If I can even for a few seconds connect you, the viewer, with the people in my photos, then I will be well pleased and I will know that I have done my job.

II will leave you with a quote (also found on Doug's Facebook page) by one of the most important photographers of all time, Robert Frank, that pretty much sums up the street photographer's job:

There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment

Peac

Photographing the Moment: It's a Vision Thing

There is one thing that photography must contain: the humanity of the moment. This kind of photography is realism. But realism is not enough; there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.                                                         

      Robert Frank

What is it exactly that Frank is saying here? I think, put simply, he is telling us that for a photo to be potentially (my italics) successful, it must contain not only a moment of the life of the person or people being photographed, but it must also contain something of humanity as it was expressed in that moment.

We see a lot of Street photography that clearly is made with the intention of producing a kind of technically correct result. (Disclaimer: I'm not going go anywhere near debates such as the "sharpness in Street Photography is overrated" paradigm doing the rounds at the moment).  And of course we do have to have some technical expertise and aspirations for our photography. But oftentimes we try so hard to copy the styles of the "masters", or the latest "trends" in street photography, or to get our heads around "zone focus", or "depth of field" and "bokeh" and the rest,  that we, either lose sight of the vision we brought to street photography in the first place, or we deny ourselves the opportunity to develop our own unique vision and voice 

But even worse than all this in my opinion is the missed opportunities to celebrate the humanity in the moments we are so fortunate to share with the people we photograph. At the same time we disrespect and objectify those people; we begin to treat them as simply one more (but not any more special than any other) element in our photos.

Now, I'm not saying that people in our photos are not to be considered as compositional, aesthetic or narrative elements; what I am saying is that at least for me, people must be the primary element. Or to put it more precisely: in order to inject humanity into our photos we have to make the moment as the people in our photos are living it the focus and the most important consideration when we make a photograph. 

Not all my photos are "tack sharp" (though for me the people I photograph deserve to be seen as clearly as possible whenever possible in a way that doesn't detract from the meaning of the moment); not all my photos are composed in accordance with the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Mean and the rest (though I study composition and I hope it informs that unconscious part of me that "sees" while I am in Street photography mode. Again I owe it to the people I photograph); lens aperture is only important to the extent that it allows me to show the people I photograph in the best light (to coin a phrase). No need to go on: I'm sure you get the picture (get it? picture? haha)

At the end of the day it comes down to finding a balance: My choice is to work towards a balance that favors the humans and their lived experience in my street photos, while still making a photo that is as technically good as I’m able. As Robert Frank says ‘… realism is not enough; there has to be vision.’