Politics in Photography

Politics and Photography

Politics and photography are two things which go together hand in hand, all throughout the photography from when it started to the modern day it has been used for politics, a major time when this was happening was during the DaDa movement which came about from 1916 to around 1924, the artists involved in this movement used photography and other art forms to retaliate against the first world war and show the evil of things which led to the war, things like nationalism. It was a movement which didn't necessarily focus on the aesthetics of the image but focus more on the story behind the photo and a certain meaning which they wanted to get across, which is very similar to old and modern types of photography which is used for political use. A big genre of photography which is very common in the political field is documentary photography because it is a type of photography which is built for politics and is there to inform and portray a message across to the audience. 

Photography can be used in many different type of political ways for example it can be used for political views in war, social, propaganda and many other things. a good example of political use in war is the famous photographer Don McCullin who is a photographer who believed that there had to be a message behind a photography and that the audience had to feel something while looking at an image or photograph we no this when he said "Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures."(1), he is most well-known for his photographs of the Vietnam and Falkland’s war, these photographs where taken to inform and show people what was happening in the war although he wasn’t give permission by the British press to show his work, this is because it could be used and could cause a political imbalance while Margret Thatcher was prime minister. 

"Our once great newspapers, which told us what went on in the world even when we couldn't affect it, have become instruments of a promotional culture, little more than catalogues advising us what to consume. This is not a great age in which to be a photojournalist."(2)- Don McCullin 

(3)

A good example of a photographer who has done a project which focuses on social politics and social issues is a photographer called Steve Huff, he did a project called My Homeless Project where he went round focusing on homeless people, he also sat with them and got information and stories from them, this is a good example of political photography because its teaching the audience something and informing them about something which is happening I there everyday life. Unlike Don McCullins work where the media didn't give him permission because it is a modern project there are many more outlets where a photographer can show there work, even though Steve Huff's [project isn't like don McCullins and would have gotten media access even if the media said he would have been able to show it there would be man different outlets for example social media and websites.

(4) (5)

Even though photography which is usually used hand in hand with politics is there to inform and teach the audience they can also be used for a negative effect for example it can be a photography about a certain thing and a newspaper or the media use it to say a point or get a point across which they want to fool the audience into believing, this is a big factor in modern day photography, especially documentary photography which is turning audiences away, it is more common now to change images a certain way though the perspective of the media and through photo editing software.

Bibliography 

(1)Don McCullin, Sleeping With Ghosts : A Life's Work in Photography by Don McCullin (Photographer), Mark Haworth-Booth (Introduction), Donald McCullin , ISBN: 0893816590 , Page: 96

(2)Don McCullin - 10 September 1997, British Journal of Photography

(3)http://cloud.hauserwirth.com/documents/tFRpB4Sd549G8nVV4icCi8qOpu8dG4lqIC8pv24Px6KK3SEu2Y/large/mcc6800-tet01-dnRu2O.jpg

(4)http://i0.wp.com/www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/rodney1.jpg?w=680

(5)http://i0.wp.com/www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/gary8.jpg?w=680

Professional Project Research

People I Looked At 

Once I knew what it was I needed to photograph I decided to start doing some research into similar photographers and into the style of photography I would be focusing on. Because my professional project is focusing on modelling I decided to research fashion photographers and portrait photographers, some of the fashion photographers I decided to look at were photographers like Bruce Weber, Juergen Teller, Mario Testino and Steven Meisel. Some of the portrait photographers I looked at photographers like Dan Winters, Dmitry Ageev, Peter Hurley and even though he’s more of a documentary photographer and not a portrait photographer I looked at Steve McCurry.

Bruce Weber

Bruce Weber is a famous fashion photographer who I have looked at he is well known for his work with magazines such as Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, GQ and more, he is also well known for his advertising campaigns with companies like Calin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch and Versace. Away from photography he is also known for being a filmmaker and is known for making music videos with the Pet Shop Boys. I looked at Bruce Weber because I feel he is a very professional photographer and gets very professional results which is proven by the number of famous clients, I also looked at his work because he has taken photographs in many styles and situations, for example headshots, full portraits, black and white, colour, in and out the studio, celebrities and the average person.

  
  
   

Juergen Teller

Juergen teller is also a fashion photographer, he is a photographer who was had his woke in magazines like Vogue, The Face and Another Magazine. Other than magazines he has worked with many famous celebrities such as Bjork, Winona Ryder, Rufus Wainwright, Michael Stipe and Kanye West when he photographed the 2015 culture edition of T Magazine, he has also worked with other artists such as William Eggleston and Roni Horn. Not only does Juergen Teller focus on fashion photography he is a photographer who also focuses on fine art portraits and photography. I have focused on Juergen teller because I like the use of colours, he uses very soft, watered down colours but still manages to use the colour to capture the viewers notice, I like this because usually a lot of portrait photography is done in black and white.

 

   
  

Mario Testino

Mario Testino is a photographer from Peru, he like the other photographers I have looked at is very well-known for his photography which focuses on portraits and fashion. He has been involved in magazines such as Vogue, V magazine, vanity fair and GQ. He has also done advertising campaigns with Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry, he has worked with many well-known people such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and even the royal family. I like Mario Testinos work because like Bruce weber he works in both black and white and colour and produces very good looking images from both. like Juergen Teller he photography in colour but were as juergen teller captures soft, watered down colours the images Mario Testino takes contain colours which are are bright, vibrant and eye catching.

 
   
  

Steve Meisel

Steve Meisel is a photography who has been photographing every cover of vogue for the last decades and has photographed every Prada advertising campaign since 2004. He has also worked with many other company’s such as Calvin Klein, Versace, Louis Vuitton and more. the reason I looked at Steve Meisel and saw him as inspiration is because ever image has the model doing something significant an interesting, none of his images are just a straight on photograph, also like the other photographer I like has he varies from black and white and colour, even though he photographs in black and white most of the time the images he produced for vogue are very colourful and appealing. 

 

   

   

Dmitry Ageev

Dmitry Ageev is a photographer who I have looked at during my research, I liked his work because unlike modern day photographers his work looks very recognisable, whereas a lot of photographers go for a very modern look I feel his work contains a very traditional look, for example the colours he’s uses, the angle and the filters he uses. I also like the detail he captures when he takes an image, especially with the eyes of a model, I think this is what capture the views attention more than the colours which I think is why he gets away with a traditional look.

 

  

  

Dan Winters

Dan Winters is a portrait photography who has a massive catalogue of work involving many different people, from celebrity’s such as Brad Pitt, Barack Obama, Will Ferrell and many more to you average person and things of significant for example photographs of Mexican gangs and Women in the Military. The reason I like his images and have been inspired by him is because even though his images look very professional they also have a flare of atmosphere to them like an art piece. I also like how has taken a very different images not just straight on portrait shots.

   

   

   

Peter Hurley 

I have chosen to look at peter Hurleys work because I feel his work is different to the other photographers I’ve looked at, he is a photographer who is famous for his very simple yet effective headshots, this is one of the reasons why I have chosen him as an inspiration. His shots contain every day, average people and are just captured in front a plain black or white background. he has also done some work with portraiture not just headshots on of these is a project called Lost people which contained images of the people form the show lost in various locations.

  

 

  

  

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is a documentary photographer most famous for the image "Afghan Girl" which he took in 1984 and was made famous when it appeared on the cover of national geographic. He is a documentary photographer which captures the face of a person and takes a lot of portrait shots, this is the reason I chose to look at him work. A big thing which stands out to me is the colours and the texture in the images, I think to get the colours he has and there textures he has in a environment which hasn’t been controlled is a very hard thing to do and produces some fantastic results. Another reason I looked at his work is because of the shots I will be doing are outside and a lot of his work is taken outside in an uncontrolled environment.