Month: November 2017

Photography as Activism: Images for Social Change by Michelle Bogre. This text begins by stating that documentary photography is an all-around depiction of photography in general. This is arguable but to document is to tell the honest truth and preserve it – which I think Natan Fyir has similar philosophy about. Bogre notes early in the text that ‘to some degree, all photography is documentary because all photographs document something’. Of course practically; the camera documents as that is it’s only purpose a measure of time instructed and programmed by the photographer at that moment. However the opposing argument is that the frame doesn’t always capture the full picture, also the photographer doesn’t always know the best way to express, or  know what needs to be shown and portrayed from the subject person as they don’t have an accurate insight into their life.

I believe that activism photography shares a lot of similarities with documentary photography, it is created from the same idea – but the changes capable by it in larger scale canpaifns as politics and social justice. It’s beneficial to the minorities and diversities.

The visual culture of selfies in the age of social media by Derek Conrad.
In this text the author speaks of  ‘the selfie’ and the impact of how they’re shared and why. When talking about this, Murray focuses on young women and their use of selfies on social media (in the younger generations). Murray analyses and considers feminism, and how provocative and almost-nude selfie’s of young women could actually be anti-feminist and fights against the efforts of feminist movements. Personally I think Conrad is suggests this wrongly, as the one of the reasons for feminist movements are to enable women to do as they please with their own bodies without judgement. He talks about the styles of a few infamous female photographers who’ve demonstrated feminist acts in their work. One of these photographers he mentioned was Nan Goldin, whose work i’ve studied religiously – he describes her as a ‘hero’ in reference to the importance of her selfies to the photography world.

The text altogether seemed to analyse the selfie as if it was created for the benefit of political power. Whilst educational and insightful to how the ‘selfie’ of one generation can make a political impact on the world, I think the author comes across as slightly judgemental and contradictory in areas. I like how the text ended on a positive note for women after the arguments Conrad made in this piece.

This book starts to engage its reader with information regarding Amanda de Cadenet’s life as a photographer; more accurately, how her peers in the industry pressured her to to keep a place in front of a camera rather than behind it. We’re informed that Amanda De Cadanet is the youngest woman hired to shoot for vogue – which inspired women everywhere to follow a career in photography which is dominantly a male career profession.

The inspiration from De Cadanet Inspired the idea ‘#girlgaze’, which is a project an idea to help females achieve recognition and profile for which they wouldn’t usually get due to gender stereotypes. The project benefits women from different cultural backgrounds, women with different capabilities and opportunities.

The text goes on to talk about the history of feminism, dating back to when the suffragettes first began to appeal for the women’s right to vote. The author believes that the current wave of feminism has lasted since around 2010 and relies on social media to spread information. For example, the use of a hashtag has got ‘girlgaze’ to where it is today; it is seen by many due to being so easily searched for.

The book itself is educational and insightful, and gives me the reassurance that women are working together to fight the gender stereotype of the ‘successful male photographer’.