Legacy documentary

Exercise 8 -read the 1939 article on documentary photography by Elizabeth McCausland and write a short bullet list of the main points.

The crux of this document is McCausland's opinion of what constitutes documentary photography and by default what done not constitute documentary photography.

1. There is a surfeit of pretty and romantic pictures, these do not represent life and life is what is exiting and important.
2. The external world shows decay and change of building and the aging and wrinkling of human beings, this is what needs to be recorded - the real  world, not the inner ebb and flow of consciousness.
3. Photography should be a social document, not influenced by the personality of the photographer in term of exhibitionism, but by his knowledge of his equipment and the understanding of his surroundings. Esthetic control over the subject matter finds significant truth and gives it significant form.
4. One of the greatest issues is finding an honest outlet to publish documentary photographs. To many newspapers and magazine only accept sensationalised images.
5. Documentary image making does not have the appropriate level of backing and sponsorship. When appropriately sponsored, the bodies of work developed are accurate in recording circumstance and quality pervades.
6. There is a whole wide world before the lens and reality uniting to be set down imperishably. Why does photography need to be art?
7. Photography is bound to realism in as complex a way as buildings are bound to the earth by the pull of gravitation. Photography is not a romantic or impressionistic medium and should not be utilised subjectively.
8. In this modern era (1939) we no longer want emotion from art, but truth, not rationalisation, not idealisation and not romanticisation - even art must be defined by facts and figures!
9. A work of art must now be defined by a set of criteria: (a) It must have meaning; (b) It must have content; (c) It must communicate; (d)It must speck to an audience. It cannot just be art.
10. Photographs have qualities that can not be delivered via any other medium, for example, the ability to capture every minute detail accurately. 
11. Every subject is significant (an opportunity) to be considered in its context and viewed in the light of historical forces.
12. The greatest objective of photography is to bring the world to us and aquatint us with the full range and variety of human existence. Photography is the observer, the unbiased witness and recorder of everything.