History and the rise of social documentary photography as a form of expression.
Starting in the later half of the 19th century social documentary photography grew as a genre partly because of the Farm Security Administration or FSA, they saw the potential of photography as a way of showing people inequality in society in the specific form of documenting the plight of poor farmers of the era. To do this they hired a number of photographers who then helped contribute to the FSA’s ‘introducing America to Americans’ project. This was possibly the first widely recognised social documentary project and from here the genre grew with photographers such as Walker Evans and Gordon Parks emerging from this project.
From this starting point Social Documentary has grown of in numerous directions and its meaning has become less obvious and more incumbent of other branches of photography moving away from the obvious definition of concerned photography documenting social groups and events alien to our western world and more obviously necessary of documentation. It has though tended to continue with an underlying and deep-rooted desire for change of some kind or highlighting of an issue on the part of the photographer. This is the driving force behind social documentary photography and can be found in most work that deems itself ‘Social Documentary’ photography.
Numerous social documentary photographers have appeared since it’s beginnings and while it has not always been the most popular of genres with either the public or the ‘art world’ it has made a number of resurgences through the history of photography. For instance currently we are in a huge renaissance period for social documentary photography, with an ever-growing thirst for information in this modern and fast moving, internet driven world photography and more importantly social documentary photography is being embraced on a wide scale especially in the form of war and conflict photography such as that of the late Tim Hetherington and highly the awarded work on the Arab spring by Yuri Kozyrev. However this extreme and “shock value” branch of social documentary photography that is so popular for obvious reasons, is not the only form of modern social documentary that is being embraced.
More subtle forms of social documentary are currently in vogue as well, for instance Stephen Shore has created a photo book documenting the effects of the Mose system for protecting the City of Venice and it Lagoon from the rising sea levels on the areas in which it is based, this comprises of numerous sedate and immaculately composed scenes documenting work sites intertwined with news stories and crisp aerial shots that come together to create an almost official feeling report like body of work that very subtly puts the photographers views across.
It has however not just been individual photographers that have influenced and grown social documentary photography nor has it bee solely down to high profile causes that are in the public eye, no it has been an accumulation of these things with the addition of photo agencies, these agencies have been paramount through the years to photographers actually been able to go and document these issues. Not only this but the agencies themselves have influenced the ebb and flow of social documentary throughout the years and non-more so than Magnum. Magnum established by Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert, is a an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo it is highly influential in the photographic world with photographers spanning many genres but with a great presence in social documentary photography. Magnum has produced some of the most recognised photographers of the genre right back to Capa and with many many more since. I will further study a number of photographers that are in the magnum collective as they have most definitely influenced social documentary’s growth through the years and I believe embody the very meaning of social documentary that is so important to this unit of work.
I believe that the reason that there has been such an increase in interest for social documentary photography as a genre is down to the ways in which we now share and access our media and news, through the Internet. This is an invaluable tool for social documentary photography with blogs such as the New York Times Lens Blog updating with Pictures of the Day from around the world each day documenting daily issues the immediacy and ease of access of photography appeal to our media thirsty modern world.