In this bumper issue we address important matters around the process and common pitfalls of the distinctions process for both Associate and Fellowship submissions, in which Simon Leach FRPS, Chair of the Distinctions Panel for the documentary genre, chats with Mark Phillips FRPS who chairs the Documentary Group.
This edition covers a range of documentary work, from the recent successful Associateship from Sara Cremer ARPS, the candid photography of Anton Panchenkov (which has roots in the work of Elliott Erwitt’s Museum Watchers) and our recent Documentary Awards Exhibition, which is currently touring in Scotland. We also have an interview with Roland Ramanan (who gave an Engagement Talk earlier this year) on his Dominoes project.
We also have an interview the Simon Leach FRPS (Chair of the Documentary Distinctions Panel) on the distinctions process. We did the interview because we are aware that distinctions are an important part of RPS membership for many and that achieving them can be challenging. So, we set out to try and dispel a few myths.
On the subject of distinctions and more broadly documentary projects, I’ve informally offered advice to many starting out on that journey. I usually open the discussion by asking two simple questions, often before I see any images – What is the story? And why are you doing it?
The first question, What is the story?, does not need a precise answer but you should have an idea or ideas about what the story is. At the beginning of a project a simple sentence will often suffice. What would you like the viewer to learn that they may not know or may not have considered? Without knowing this how do you know what to photograph? How do you explain what you are doing to someone else?
Documentary is concerned with narrative. The RPS definition is that documentary photography communicates a clear narrative through visual literacy. It can be applied to the photographic documentation of social, cultural, historical and political events.
You might be telling a personal story or questioning current beliefs or norms or simply asking the viewer to think about a topic. Simply documenting what is there is not documentary, it is a record. It might be an important record (for historical archives), but with no visual narrative it is simply a collection of images.
Why are you doing it? Whatever the project is, it needs to be important to you. If not, it is less likely you will complete it. The motivation can be personal, maybe even cathartic or maybe addresses some injustice or societal issue you want to give a voice to.
Surprisingly, when questioned, people often cannot answer these basic questions. But I see them as fundamental to get you started and provide both direction and motivation. The reality of any longer-term project is that as we learn (and see more), we may change our ideas, we may need to take stock and re-define the project and our intent, and so the project develops. But we still have a what and why, even if they evolve.
Today with the technology at our disposal it has never been easier to physically make an image. What is much more challenging is developing the thought process and the vision to decide what and how to photograph and how to put those images together in a way that engages the viewer. I hope we will have some new resources and maybe a new course to help with this in the near future.
Mark A Phillips FRPS
Chair, Documentary Group