Documentary portraiture
Last week, I started a night class on documenting urban portraits through the photographic medium. The class was somewhat intense: in 2 hours we zipped by Cartesian philosophy (but are you really capturing the essence of that item in your photo? You can never capture it because you are not it!), the difference between taking photographs and making pictures (one's purposeful and the other's just child's play), and the inability of men to live up to the standard of what being a "man" is via our instructor's work. A tad overwhelming yes.
This week, homework is due and I'm screwed. I need to send in three photos that I like (but portraits I'm guessing), plus take seven photos and present one in class. I've managed to get three random photos that I like, one that's been stuck in my head for a while, and two more which I recently found through The Big Picture, but nothing on the seven photos of my own. The first is a shot by Mohammed Abed about civilians and medics running to safety during an Israeli strike over a UN school in Beit Lahia, Palestinian Territories on 17/01/2009. It's not really a portrait, but really, what is a landscape but just a series of portraits in one image? The second is by Pedro Ugarte, showing Indian soldiers commemorating Indian Republic Day on 26/01/2010. The last is by Mike Hewitt of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
