documentary photography.
documentary photography is a style of taking photos simply to document an event or a moment. really any photo taken casually can be classed documentary photography when you think about it, for example taking a snap of your friends just out and about, but typically this style is used to point out something in society.
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The one rule of documentary photography however is the photo can't be set up or staged in any way. Well, technically yes, you have to focus and frame the photo. But telling people to hold certain things, pose a certain way, that breaks the rules, and makes the photo non-genuine.
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i'm not sure on how to link this to the digital age theme I wanted to go to for my final project. I saw a perfect photo opportunity for it on the bus the other day, a bunch of girls on the bus were taking selfies together, and the one girl that wasn't drinking was being left out of all the photos, looking to the side. However I couldn't think of a good way to go about trying to get the photo stealthily, and I thought asking would be weird, and they were super drunk and I couldn't be bothered to deal with that, so I had to let it slip.
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a good example of this is in the series Weight Watchers by Haley Morris where she set up a camera on a tripod, and pictured how the public perceive obese people by capturing their reactions.
room.
For the documentary photography project, I decided to focus on my friend's rooms, as a person's room can speak volumes about their personality without saying a word.
I decided to get my subjects to cover their faces in some way, so that they were
"it's decorated like this because I enjoy punk music, I also hate hippies"
"I was having a breakdown and my mum gave me this room because it was initially hers. It was also funny when I invited my friend over and I urinated in a pizza box"
Q12EW
DGDFGRGDGH
"I decorated with stuff that interests me and certain memories from my past"
"My favourite memory here is probably just chilling with friends at night"
CONTACT SHEET!!
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The photo series hones in on a central theme, a person's bedroom. I feel as though a person's room can say a lot about a person without saying at all, just the way a person's room is decorated can communicate so much. I made the decision to have my subjects cover their faces as to make it about the room rather than them.
I did Alex's room because I've always been in love with the punk aesthetic everytime I'd come round for sleepovers or hanging out.
I did Nush's room because I found the cutesy pink aesthetic mesmerising and very out there.
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Finally I chose Jack's room as I thought it was just very personal. The walls caked with his music inspirations and childhood posters (which weren't actually captured :/) it was between this and Percy's room, but I ended up going with Jacks as timing lined up perfectly.
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I took all of the photos with both the lights of the room and the flash on as it gave the photos this eerie grey effect. This wasn't really for a specific reason other than me thinking it looked cool though. It's not prominent in the first photo shoot however, as I hadn't figured out how to do the effect properly, it was only when I went to the second subject Nush's house that she told me I had to keep the room lights on.