Scottish Sweet Sixteen

Scottish Sweet Sixteen is a collection of images from Document Scotland done by photographers Colin McPherson, Stephen McLaren and Sophie Gerrard. The series of images show's various sixteen year olds living in Scotland. They are trying to show that Scotland has changed over the years and that teenagers today are very different from what they used to be.

All images show the teenagers in their natural environment and how they would naturally dress. This gives a real insight into their lives as very natural normal teenagers.

Alejandro Cartagena

Alejanro Cartagena is a Mexican documentary photography who also works and lives in Mexico. His aim in his style of photography is to investigate social living conditions. His images highlight many of the horrible conditions which men and woman are forced to work in due to lack of money but also the need to make money and that they are willing to live and travel dangerously for work.

Here are two examples of Cartagena's work. We can see here the many of the men are actually sleeping in the back of the truck beside each other whilst travelling for work. It is also interesting that none of the men seem to be phased that they are peacefully sleeping on the back of a moving truck on a motorway. The angle of the images is also very interesting and makes me wonder how they were shot.

Vlad Sohkin

Sohkin is a well recognised documentary photographer within Thailand and was named Photographer of the year 2013 by the Foreign Correspondents club. Sohkin took a series of images throughout Thailand depicting the poverty over there. He was admired after his reportage in a challenging environment showed the judges the highest ideals of documentary photography.

This is one of Sohkins images. This is a very hard hitting images as we see a lady who is in need of water and obviously has no where else to source if from and therefore she is resorting to hunting through old thrown away bottles to see if she can find one to drink. The technial aspect of this image is also very well done and interesting. I like the fact that Sohkin has used HDR as it is a bit different to many of the other photojournalism images. I think it adds to the 3D affect of the bottles and adds more colour to the image overall.

Suzy Prior

Suzy Prior is an English born documentary photographer Prior takes photos of many people throughout England, but mostly seaside towns, where she photographs people who are often unaware of being photographers. She also photographs inanimate objects which are relatable and recongisable to people living in the UK as well as books, food and clothes.    

This image is one i specifically like as it has a lot of colour and vibracy to it. This is unusual in documentary photography as many images are normally, dark, contrasty and black and white. I also really appreciate the movement within it and it gives us an idea of the slow pace the merry go round was spinning at, and therefore is relatable.

This is another one of her photographs, it is very simple with no real technical effort but it is very relatable to people in the UK and that is what Prior aims for.

Daniel Berehulak

Berehulak was commissioned by the New York times to shoot a series of images which portrayed the pollution and sanitation and how it may affect children in India. He called the series of images "The Perils of Poor Sanitation in India". This is a good example of modern day documentary photography where the photographer has been sent over to another country on commission to tell a story through their images for the newspaper.

This is one of the images within his series. We can clearly see here the poverty within the area and the shocking conditions in which people have to work in in India. The image has been shot digitally and then slightly enhanced later. The composition of the image works very well as we start by focusing on the man and then our eyes travel around the image to the woman in the back ground and the boat.

I really admire these images as the context is not easy to look at in the sense that a lot of the people in the images are young children and the living conditions are horrible. The lighting and compositions within the images are very interesting as many of them have been taken at night and the sky is a very strong blue colour, I feel that tis creates a contrast in the images as it gives a symbol of luxury as the weather is nice but the conditions are not.

Margret Burke-White

Burke was born in New York, and she was one of the first woman to be an accredited war correspondent with the U.S troops, she was also the first western photographer allowed into Russia to take images.

This is by far one of Burkes most iconic images and has been seen by many people all over the world. This image has been named by Burke as the "Migrant Mother". This is a great example of photojournalism as we can see true emotion on the mothers face and as we look closer we begin to see the ragged clothing. This leads us to feeling further emotion when we see her two small children which are clinging on to her, perhaps in distress, hunger, or fear. We can then notice the tiny little baby in her arms as well as the dirt of their skin which leads us to believe they do not have a proper home. The composition and framing of this image works very well as the mother is the focal point of the image and wee can see her emotion. After researching tis image more thoroughly, I learned that the photographer had stopped by at a sanction on the side of the road for poor and hungry people and that is where she met this lady, after taking the photograph Burke then left immediately. This also gives us an insight as to how hard it must be to be a documentary photographer, as they are putting themselves in situations that they may not be familiar with and also upsetting and dangerous.

Robert Dosineau

Doisneau is another very iconic French photojournalist and documentary photographer. He got into photography at a very young ago of 13 and has taken some of the most viewed images today.

this is one his most recognisable images which he has taken. Unlike many of the other images which I have spoken about this one has a very positive image of a sailor who is kissing his girlfriend/wife. The image almost appears set up due to the angle and framing which he has the subjects in. The use of black and white film adds to the style of the image with the outfits and look of the city at that time

Similar to Bressons work, and particular to the time that the images were shot at, they are all shot on black and white film. I think that this adds more story to the images as you now that they are older and have more value as they are telling a apart of history.

This image is one of my favourite out of Dosineau's work as it makes me wonder if the image is actually set up or just a snap shot of a man on the street as he is holding the umbrella over his instrument rather than himself.

Henri Cartier Bresson

Henri Cartier Bresson

Bresson is by far one of the most recognised photojournalists/doucmentary photographers in the world. His images always appear perfectly times and accurate of every day life. It is reported that he spent hours on streets in France each day waiting to capture things which happened. 

this is by far one of his most hard hitting images as it involves a group of young children who are attempting to play in rubble in Seville 1933. This image is also very well framed as we get to see straight down the hole, thus showing us the true extent of the damage which has been caused. This image also tugs at our heart strings because it is of a group of young innocent boys who have no shoes and no other place to play and gather other than in the rubble.

Many of his photographs carry the same concept, Bresson as known for his opportunist style in photography known as the "decisive moment". It is said that they would wait in the same position for hours hoping to capture a photograph which has movement and life in it on the streets. 

His use of good composition is also very important part of his photographs, whether it be symmetry or shadows.

Research completed in class