The Other Story - Journalistic or Human Interest?
Last week, the first week in 3 1/2 years, I did not write a blog. My artist friend, Simona Ruggeri, gave me the permission I needed to take time off. She is also the one who helped me keep going during a particularly difficult time during the pandemic. Thank you, Simona. Here is where I am now, if have something to write about, I am delighted to write. If I don’t, that is okay, too. To my surprise, this week, a photo that I took has raised some issues that I find worthy to write about.
This photo was taken on October 6th. I probably would not have been too interested in it, except there was nothing else taken that day that was more interesting. I lived with it in color for a week, which was a totally jarring experience. When I converted it to b&w, I decided to put it up for critique. That is generally a bold move on my part.
On Saturday morning, the PURE STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Facebook group, does critique. I think they are really good. I may not always agree with them, but almost always something useful comes out in the critique. There was agreement in the group about two things in this photo. It has a political/philosophical element and it also has a human element with the two women on the right. Ultimately the group agreed the photo has more traction as social documentary.
I believe social documentary is harder to get viewer buy-in with single photos. It really needs to be a developed project where the photographer gets to know the subjects and the subject matter. In Nashville, on Broadway, there is often an opportunity for political/philosophical photos that are journalistic. Religious groups, in a striking variety of flavors, try to bring the revelers to see the world and other-world as they do. There is always the political right, rarely the political left, this is Nashville after all, showing their true colors. More poignantly, we have a significant homeless population which keeps that pressing social problem in top-of-mind awareness. Now we have people who are worried about circumcision. Frankly, I find it all fascinating. I am compelled to take journalistic pictures, except not pictures of the homeless. I often keep them in my iPad Album. But they are generally not photos I post. Jon Kral, one of the people who critiqued this photo said it very well, “This is very journalistic. I am not a big fan of demonstrations as street photography, because I see the demonstrators as actors.” This exactly describes my feelings about single image social documentary.
You might wonder why I put this up for critique. I had deep reservations. For one thing, I am a little suspicious that this particular concern about circumcision has its roots in anti-Semitism. There was nothing that day that indicated that. Sometimes I am just suspicious. Here is what motivated me. There is a human element in this photo, and it is not the women, that does resonate with me in a very funny way. I wanted to know if my viewer could see what I see. The answer, unfortunately, is “no”. If you look behind the man with the sign, there is another man who looks like he just took a quick deep breath and covered his mouth. Now, when I do that, it means I am imagining myself into a situation I do not want to be in. That seems like a reasonable response for a guy here. That is funny to me. It takes the picture from social documentary to candid street. But it cannot do that if it is not noticed. It was not noticed.
What this critique exchange did for me was to remind me that subtle detail in a photo is rarely enough to get the viewer’s attention. That recognition goes along with my understanding that objects needs to be fairly close in a frame in order for a viewer to make a connection.
There is another element in this photo that has value for me. I did a fairly good job separating my subjects. The layers are generally good. Getting photos with layers is my mission now. It reminds me that walking Broadway shoulder to shoulder with the crowd offers a boot camp like training to develop the skill to get a photo with layers.
I cropped this photo trying to help the viewer find the man covering his mouth. It did not help. I might as well go back to the original frame. It has a little more compelling composition. The pairs of people resonate somewhat. There is an angle that somewhat takes you back into the frame. The social documentary recedes into the background. Now I just need, as Vineet Vohra would say, a nice snake or bird in the left foreground. It is just another day in Nashville. This is not a worthy single photo, but it might find its place in the project on Nashville.