Today was our first official introduction to our new module: Individual Practice, led by Sian Addicott and Clare Bottomley.
The key questions of this session were: What is Photojournalism? & What is Documentary Photography
I myself believe that Photojournalism implies that the photographer in question must have a specific agenda which motivates his or her practice, be it political or financial.
On the other hand I do believe that Documentary Photography is a medium of photography which simply presents occurrences as they are, leaving the audience a lot of freedom to form their own opinion of what they are seeing. However, you could argue that a photographer will always take his pictures in a fashion that allows him (or her) to tell ‘the story’ from a very personal angle.
This whole task was provided in order for us to think more broadly about how we would like to approach our project.
Though I have not yet fully decided (clocks ticking) about my project, the first thought I had was to make it about one of the major political issues of our time, BREXIT.
The reason I chose this topic is because it is personally important to me.
On one of my recent trips to Germany, as I was arriving in Dover I couldn’t help but notice a great big painting on the side of a building, several stories high. The image depicted the European flag, along with a man on a ladder slowly chiseling away one of the stars, causing cracks along the remaining banner.
I wonder if I would be able to find more of this sort of Artwork in cities such as Cardiff, Bristol or London (as these would logistically be the easiest).
image credit: Instagram/Banksy