The photographs as document
William Edward Gibbon the great chartist meeting at the common 1848 plate camera background of crowd. The photographer was pretty much invisible here taking in the moment. There is no point of view, no focus on anything specific.
How the other half live- Jacob Riis 1890- Bandits Roost. In this image the photographer is completely visible we can see this because the subjects are looking directly at him. This image feels quite aggressive.
A growler gang in session 1887. This image looks fake. That's because it is, it was staged. This is the reason I don't like this photo. It lacks emotion and realism and there's no movement. It's boring.
This image 'Duffer Boy' looks a child labour. This boy is obviously very young and doing quite a dangerous job. I think it would have been quite dangerous taking this photo mostly because the boy might get distracted and chop his hand off or something!
Margaret Bourke- White share croppers home 1937. This is an ironic photo as this is showing the poverty of this little boys home, how they have to wallpaper their house with magazines and newspapers but this means advertising wealth all over their walls.
Dorothea Lang 'Migrant mother' 1936. This shows the mother as a religious figure rising above poverty and scandal. Although they live in obvious poverty she is doing the best she can for her children.
There were many more photos shown but I liked these ones. Photography achieves its highest distinction-reflecting the unfairity of the human condition in a never to be retrieved fraction of a second.
Photography also breaks down the language barrier. You don't need to talk to them to see what's going on here even though they may not speak English. As they say- An image speaks a thousand words.
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