Monday, September 14, 2015

Documentary Photography Example


Henri Cartier-Bresson. FRANCE. Paris. 1969. La Défense. Home Economics Show. 1969. Magnum Collection, ARTstor.

I spent over an hour browsing through Magnum Collection before landing on this photo of a French home economics show. I was drawn to this image because of the simplicity of it. When I think of documentary photography I think of important historical events but also of images of the everyday; of the lives of individuals. This image of a French woman talking to an appliance salesman depicts just that. This is a situation most people can relate to. One can imagine the salesman’s pitch to convince the woman to purchase the appliance and the woman’s skepticism.     


Note from Martha: and this photo took me back to a photo from 1959 - the famous (at least then) Nixon/Kruschev "kitchen" debate. Did anyone else think of that when they saw this image? Kruschev looked pretty skeptical at the time...

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