TOM. Task 2/4 (Documentry)

Werner Bishchof's documentary photos were all shot in black and white, which could indicate that sadness he was capturing as he always covered such dark times such as the Koren war and the aftermath of world war 2. He takes photos with a single framed narrative by choosing one photo which shows his aim more prominently I think this works well for his work because in these dark times everyone was going through the same emotions, loosing people they loved and fearing for their lives and he conveys them perfectly in one photo- people would have felt the moral(unity of the country) behind this one photo and it would have given people hope. His style varies between his thinking about the photo and arranging his subjects and creating the composition but mostly he'd capture the moment as it came to him, other times the photo's would be at an average standard and others, that really made an impact would be "perfect" which his work's perfection is described as his only weakness.

Focusing just on the "Departure of the Red Cross train" photo(Image above.) Bishcof had chosen to take a photo of two children particularly, he chose to put central in the photo, a little girl with tears in her eyes and off to the side of her another girl a few years older then her, looking out into the distance at what I presume is her parent/s with a really worried and sad expression. What I really find good about this photo is the way Bischof's composition leads you first to the little girl crying but not only that the way she's looking straight at the camera with this look of sorrow then it leads us to the other girl looking out of the frame I also like how at the other side of the littlest girl is a boy who's face is being hidden by reflection of the train's window but you can still see with the amount of his face showing that he is also unhappy.

On the other hand, Martin Parr's documentary work isn't all shot in black and white- he changed to colour film as the times changed and this was a good choice because it's a good indication of "Signs Of The Times" (one of Martin Parr's books that focus' on the little things that prove times have changed) By taking black and white up until a certain point we can also notice the growth of Martin Parr himself. Parr is a very creative photographer, who'd go to wonderful lengths just to say get his degree? by designing and building a life size room filled with his very own framed photos. I admire his creativity and his will to find odd and interesting things to photograph for example his "One day trip" project and his "bored couples" project I think his works a real eye opener. Parr uses more creative ideas with his work compared to Bischof as they worked on totally different ends of documentary styled work, Parr's being projects with one main narrative which was more lighthearted compared to Werner's work with him using a single image to create a narrative which was mroe hard hitting with differences aside, both photographers came out with beautiful results.

focusing Just on Martin Parr's image above, Parr has chosen to make the subject matter off center, hes using the arms of all the people as leading lines up towards the building. Martin Parr uses his leading lines to slowly sink in the pure humor of this image, if the building was central in the photo; it wouldn't be as effective.

Both Parr and Bischof create amazing images but Parr focus' on softer, more humorous subjects where as Bischof focus's on more hard hitting, emotional projects. Martin Parr's work is more modern and more adapted to compared to Bischof's but having to consider that Bischof died at the age of 38 leaves you to wonder what he'd of come up with with today's advanced technology if his work was perfected all them years ago.

Brent Stirton, is a more younger, modern styled documentary photographer compared to Parr and Bischof. He uses lots of wide angles for his images and almost always uses colour and not dull colour, bright, bold and vibrant colour. He tends to showcase more the photos which arn't expected rather than ones which are. He goes away or 9 months at least to other countries taking photos of the different cultures and different scenery which is completely different to Parr. His more serious, hard hitting images are defiantly toned down in colour and some even have a disturbing feel to them. Stirton, like Parr uses leading lines in his images, some leading the eye to shocking things, other to lighthearted, breath taking things and he chooses his focal point and depth of field wisely in his shots and the way he uses lighting in really creative ways which set the feel of the photo is amazingly effective, he uses flash most of the time for his images when outside as well as underexposing the image in order to make the sky really detailed and colorful whilst the flash works to light the subject in just as much detail as the sky and it creates a really interesting effect.

Stirton, like Parr creates a narrative with a whole project of images rather then just one singular image unlike Parr though, Stirton captures photos such as his more serious images to create discomfort to the viewer(see picture below), he does this by using specif lighting and darker tones in his images and choosing a composition that is effectively striking, he uses all these techniques to create a haunting narrative for his projects which show starvation, illness, disfigurement and many more horrible situations and unfortunate conditions people have to live in.