Having look through magazine's and got an idea of the kind of photo's produced today I now want to look at a few individual photographer's who's work in this field stands out from quiet a packed photo journalistic crowd.
Bill Brandt.
Widely regarded as one if not the most influential British Photographer of the 20th century Brandt captured British society at a turning point during the 1930's and through the Second World War, this kind of documentation wasn't common at the time and he made sure that he captured every aspect however small of all levels of society around this time. He would eventually move into more abstract work with his distorted nudes and landscapes but in this case I'm going to focus on his early work.
Window In Osborn Street.
Coal Searcher Going Home.
Evening In Kenwood.
These are just a quick example of the kind of scene captured by him but they show range of his work from the cluster of faces seen watching from a basement dwelling to the hunched Coal Searcher struggle his way home with a heavy load slug over the cross bar to finally the couples at ease and in love in the park. As ever the question is why does his work stand out? To start with I think its the period that he's working in because when we look back today and we see it as being a record of how society in this country has changed but there's more to his work then that. For example if you take the Coal Searcher which was taken during a period of high unemployment you see there's also some symbolism to the shot because its a representation of the struggle most of the middle to lower class people were facing at the time, while at the same time he was capturing images of the upper class at there cocktail and garden parties.
Martin Parr.
Best known for his work focusing on modern life he found fame in the 80's with photo's mirroring the lifestyle of ordinary British people, reflecting the mood and attitude of society during the Thatcher era. Of his own work he said " With photography I like to create fiction out of reality. I try and do this by taking society's natural prejudice and giving this a twist"1. A good collection of his work can be found on the Magnum Photos site from these you can see his very unique approach to capturing modern society from the surreal to the damn right strange. I wouldn't class myself as a big fan of his work but what I do like is his different approach to the study of the world around us and how we fit into it.
Fay Godwin.
Possibly more renowned for her landscape work but I think that she deserves a mention for her social documentary collection also. Compared to the other two photographers I've looked at to me her style is very much understated, definitely it's less intrusive then Parr's style but just as effective in capturing the mood/feel of the scene.
Cricket at Sandwich.
Social Security Office.
Private Land.
She did create a great selection of photo's in this field but above are some of the shots that stand out most to me from capturing the simple activity of locating a lost ball, to a very sad and frankly moving image of a small child on the steps of a social office to finally the image of a private land sign relating to her work and views regarding the right to roam the countryside. She's up there as one of my favourite photographers mainly because of some similar views that we share but also because of the depth to the work she created but thats maybe to go more into another time.
Although this was only a very quick study of a few photographers and there work I feel it's given me much more of an idea of the kind of shot's I'd like to produce myself when I reach the relevant section in my major project, as I've said before this is definitely the area of photography that I have the least practise and experience in so a little more experimentation will be needed until I can find a style that I feel comfortable working with but at least now I feel better about where I'm heading thanks to a little research.
That's really massive exposure post and I must admire you in this regard.
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