Documentary or Street?

[dds701]

I guess I'm confused by the difference between (IF there is a distinct difference) Documentary and Street?

Seriously, I see here the title of this forum is "Street & Documentary", the two subjects are combined into one forum,

but separated by &...?

Reason I got to this point is I am working on cataloging/tagging thousands of images in my Photoshop programs.

So this is a serious question.

Thank You

[c_wyatt]

<p><em>Hardening of the categories causes art disease</em> - W. Eugene Smith</p>

<p>I don't think there's a distinct difference, or needs to be. But generally I'd consider 'documentary' to be a lot wider. I'd consider street a form of documentary photography. </p>

<p><br /></p>

[Uhooru]

<p>The distinctions do blur because so called street photos can also be part of a documentary. And documentary photos can also be so called street photography. Take as example "The Americans" by Robert Frank. He employed what is often now referred to as a street photography style or mentality to what was for him a documentary project. That is, he set out to document America. He obtained a grant to do so. His style was considered "street" because of the moments captured, the ersatz anti- family of man stylistic conventions which he exchanged for an immediacy, on the fly, jazz, polyphonic and polyrhythmic shooting style that at that time was very new. It was also documentary because he was able to document, in a way no one else had, the sub text of America at that particular time, the sometimes uncomfortable and ugliness of some aspects of American life and culture at that time that had never been presented in exactly that way.<br>

Now days, the distinctions are even more blurred, but generally a documentary will have some thematic connection between photographs in a project form where the connection is intentional by the photographer. Usually the theme will be topical or near topical. One approach, as we practiced documentary in school, was as a documentarian we setsout with an idea to document something specific. The photo then, is a document, a fact (a whole other topic). We started out by documenting our bedrooms, we had an exercise where we had to describe all the parts and qualities of a pencil. The idea was to forget the names of things, and ask yourself, how would I show and pictorially explain this thing visually to an alien. Then we would pick a topic, in the conventional sense, our teacher chose the at the time upcoming elections, he had us ride local buses and document riding a bus. Again the theme was first and we shot to that theme. But it can also work in opposite. Sometimes you can look at hundreds or thousand of your street photos and pick out a relational theme of some kind. This can then morph what was individual street photos, into a documentary. I would say though that in the main, a documentary is generally intentionally photographed. <br>

Just some meandering thoughts on the subject that maybe will stimulate some thought. But I don't know of any single pat answer to the question.</p>

 

[photo_galleries]

<p>A couple of differences:<br /> <br /> 1) Context. 10 street photos can be just that: 10 disparate street photos. However, given context, such as "where I grew up," it becomes documentary. The term documentary also has a connotation of being "factual," so in theory, some rules around manipulation apply.</p>

<p>2) Location - "street photography" implies that the photo was taken outdoors. However, documentary does NOT necessarily have to be outside. A series of photos inside a prison, for example, may be documentary, but can hardly be called "street photography."</p>

<p>Just my $0.02.</p>

[rickbarbosa]

<p>The difference comes down to your attention span.</p>

[dds701]

I really appreciate the responses and can relate to the different views.

All of course seem quite acceptable and likewise I think I have a better understanding of Street and Documentary...

Thank You

Doug

[a_petkov]

<p>Street photography is a subset of documentary photography.</p>

[Damon DAmato]

<p>Maybe, A Petkov, but I like to think street and documentary as both subsets of reportage, along with photojournalism.</p>

[jimsimmons]

<p>Street photography can easily exist as totally distinct from reportage or photojournalism. For examples, look online for some photographs by Mark Cohen, and you'll see work that has nothing to do with journalism but has everything to do with the spaces, movement, and forms the street has to offer.</p>

[dds701]

Jim tried the online search of Mark Cohen, unsuccessfull!

Thanks for response