↣ day 5! ↢

this week i've talked a lot about photography as creative self-expression, but what about photography in a wider social context?

the following are a few types/genres of photog that typically have great social impact:

↣ photojournalism
↣ social documentary photog
↣ street photog

i'll be touching a bit on these genres in today's thread

by photographing something, you explicitly choose to bring attention to that subject/moment and immortalize it. once you share a photo online, you are exposing it to the world—which is why photographers MUST be careful with what they shoot, especially if it involves other people.

let's start with photojourn!

photojourn is visual news reporting; photojournalists are ethically obligated to remain impartial to the subject matter itself, and not depict fake news (which is a hot topic as always )

with online articles, the header photo is just as important

(if not more!) than the headline is. an eye-catching photo can prevent people from scrolling past and not even reading the headline

let's look at these 4 different articles reporting the same topic. which ones might you stop to read; which ones might you ignore?

i personally havent gone into photojourn outside of pisay, but even then pisay has plenty of interesting events to cover—humfest, ymsat, fair, and more.

among these include rallies & protests staged by pisay students:
↣ marcos not a hero [9&11 nov '16]
↣ pride [10 may '19]

↣ and most recently, BOTtled Up. [23 may '19]

from hereon i'll be talking about social docu & street photog!

social docu's goal is to depict & bring light to social issues. meanwhile, street photog focuses on people's general behavior in public spaces & interactions with their surroundings.

tiny bit of my street photog~

street photog is not necessarily political, but social docu is by nature. however, they may often overlap, Especially in the philippines where the urban poor are a familiar sight and common photog subject.

our adviser talks a bit about poverty porn here: https://twitter.com/ExpoPisay/status/1240213309539749888?s=20

here's some additional points on poverty porn:

DONT
↣ romanticize/sensationalize poverty
↣ objectify the aesthetic of struggle
↣ make it inspirational

DO
↣ be conscious that you have a more privileged background than your subject
↣ make it a call to action, push for change

portray people's strength & beauty in the face of adversary, but do not forget to call out the injustices our masses face on a daily basis.

here are some amazing filipino photographers to check out!
1: Kimberly dela Cruz
2: Eloisa Lopez
3: Xyza Cruz Bacani
4: Veejay Villafranca

and before i end this thread, i'd like to ask whoever's reading this to look into mass organizations. one of them is Panday Sining, which is dedicated to creating & promoting art (from different disciplines, including photog & film!) for the masses https://www.facebook.com/AngPandaySining/videos/575119409773447

^^^ that's one of their most recent short films, part of a series of pieces for holy week! i've also retweeted & linked in a previous thread another video by them, "bayan ng ina".

i hope you'd consider joining PS, if not at least supporting the org's releases :)

use what you have, be it photography or anything else, to let your voices be heard. remember, there is power in the masses.

mga iskolar ng bayan, para sa bayan

that's all for my feature week!! thank u all for reading & interacting hehe stay safe, stay healthy, and #oustduterte

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