Documentary photography - Claire Martin

1. Application 162 163
Tony (left), and Street Documentary Claire Martin – whose work is shown
Vendor (below) opposite – is a social worker turned
Portraits of residents of Because its subject matter is not primarily documentary photographer and winner of
Vancouver’s Downtown East aesthetic, the role of composition in the Inge Morath award (in association with
Side, an area of extreme documentary photography can be the Magnum Foundation) for her ‘ongoing
poverty in a city that has underestimated. Yet it is only well-composed documentation of marginalized communities
been described as ‘the images that will catch and hold the public’s within prosperous nations’. Her work to date
world’s most liveable’. attention. Documentary photography is has looked at two very different
Addiction and disease are closely linked to photojournalism and communities: poverty, addiction and health
rife but Martin’s work reportage, but may not share their sense of problems in Downtown East Side Vancouver,
emphasizes the fact that this ‘newsworthiness’. By definition, it is a form Canada and life in a squatter community in
is still a ‘real suburb home to of photography that creates a document, a the abandoned Marine barracks ‘Slab City’
real people’ in compositions record. Even its practitioners disagree about in the Colorado Desert, in southeastern
that unflinchingly centre the its objectivity or, as some would argue, lack California (see page 102).
individual in their of it. The contradiction at the heart of
environment. documentary photography is that the most In conversation with Olivier Laurent of the
Photographer: Claire Martin. meaningful images can only be made British Journal of Photography, Martin talked
Technical summary: Hasselblad through close engagement with, and about ‘trying to create compassionate
501CM 50mm f/4 Distagon, 1/125 understanding of, the subject. However, that awareness through visual imagery’. She
at f/5.6 and 1/125 at f/4, Ilford level of involvement can challenge a wholly recognizes the financial difficulties in
Delta 100. objective position. Whatever your feelings publishing documentary imagery today and
about that, it can be one of the most sees awards like the Inge Morath grant as
rewarding forms of image making. one of the few ways to make this possible.
Documentary photography is typically
project-based, in as much as a photographer
will take either a commission or a subject of
their choice and create a series of images,
usually over a period of time, to document
the subject. Despite requiring objectivity,
some documentary photographers have a
more overtly political agenda and they make
this quite clear, while there are those who
want to create change by applying pressure
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via their images – this is the province of the
so-called ‘concerned photographer’.