Wedding & Portrait Photojournalism

The Royal Photographic Society was founded in the early days of photography in 1852. Today the society remains an organization with its place etched in history around the world. A man named David Land wrote an article about Nick Danziger titled Blair at War in the Royal Photographic Society Journal.

Nick Danziger began his career as a painter and on the side from publishing to documentary filmmaking. His books and films always had included his photographic work. What sparked Danziger’s interest was “looking at aspects of the world we rarely have access to see.” While photographing political figures he noted that at times it’s easier and some times it’s difficult. It’s easier when you have security clearance and behind the scenes access. Then it is difficult when your subjects are afraid that a simple image can destroy there reputation. He goes on to explain as you develop a report with your subjects and they start to trust you as time progresses.
The Times commissioned Blair at War as a project to write about the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. At that time Danziger was asked if he was available to photograph two or three days a week over a months time. Later the photographer learned that he would be photographing Tony Blair. The photographer actually worked on the project for 30 full days including the weekends.
Unlike most documentary photographers Danziger prefers to use 35mm black and white film over digital. He goes on to explain that with his raw and immediate work he likes to use Kodak Tri-X film. The photographer believes that to document he must be able to blend into his surroundings and desired to be as “invisible or transparent as possible.” His style coupled with not using a flash when doing his documentary made it so some of the political figures forgot he was around from time to time.

Danziger knows that the general public wants color but uses black and white because it helps people understand what is going on in an image without the distraction of color. He also goes on to explain the immediacy of digital and that how he would rather take a great picture of a moment rather then “several frames per minute like a video.”

Through forums, experience and education as photographers we all learn the theories of black and white photography and the theories of color photography. We also learn the nuances of cameras and what has been the general rule throughout history. A black and white medium tends to always let people look at an image holistically and view the situation simultaneously. Color photography on the other hand is more realistic because of the simple fact that people can view the color as if they were actually there. Although color tends to be more realistic the subject of the photograph can suddenly become the colors in the photograph which can be slightly distracting.

Different camera formats are used for different things. Since medium and large format cameras are large, clunky, and take time to focus and compose an image most people prefer the speed and choice of lenses with a SLR camera for documentation and photo-journalism. Most people prefer digital SLR cameras because they are quick and you can capture several images per second if need be to stumble upon that perfect shot when you edit your images. While this works most of the time photographers generally spend less time composing an image. A photographer using film on the other hand can only expose 32 frames before he or she has to reload the camera. This tends to make a photographer more conscientious of capturing a great photograph. With film photographers take a little more time to compose the image and wait for the perfect moment to finally capture the image. This theory however is not etched in stone, some photographers do take the time to compose an image in digital and others take random snapshots with film.

People who photograph documentaries as a rule try there best not to affect what is going on. You would rarely see photographers with cameras photographed in a documentary. Rather you attempt to photograph things as they are without having people pose for situations. As a general rule people know when a camera is around and act differently because they know that it’s an indexical. Photography harnesses the power to communicate to the masses. They know that if they are scratching themselves or something the whole world might see it. Since this is true you either have to sneak photographs without people knowing you are there or by developing a trust with your subjects. This trust and develop by experience in that you have not released images that destroy people carriers and is heightened when people know that your carrier could be destroyed if you produce that type of images. It’s likely that a member of the paparazzi from the tabloids would do not have access and must hide out because political figures are afraid that a wrong angle or something they do in the fraction of a second will be plastered all over magazines and newspapers for the world to see.

Reference:
David Land. (2007). Blair at War. The Royal Photographic Society Journal. 147 (2), 54-59.