Summary of Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Visual Sociology, Documentary Photography and Photojournalism:
It’s (Almost) all a matter of Context by Howard S. Becker


Chapter six begins by discussing the ambiguous nature of photographs. This is a problem for social scientists who are trying to make sense of photographs in a world full of visual sociological meanings. Photographs taken by visual sociologists, documentary photographers and photojournalists can be very similar, but the way to understand the photographs is not to label them as a particular field, but to explore the response made by people looking at the photographs. This chapter discusses the importance of context in giving photographs their meaning (Becker 1998: 84).

Becker discusses the three similar fields of photography: visual sociology, documentary photography and photojournalism, which are often confused by people using photographic materials for social science purposes, now known as visual sociology. The meanings of these terms are socially constructed and change over time, they are dependent on the understanding of the people who label them and attribute certain meanings to them. The visual sociology images can resemble the two other fields and vice-versa (Becker 1998: 84).

Becker goes on to discuss the historical background of these terms, and how their meanings have changed over time. For example documentary photography does not mean the same thing as it did in the past. These fields get their meaning in a particular social context. However, there is no easy way to define either of these terms as their purpose changes depending on who is using the material and for what purposes (Becker 1998: 85-86).

Photographs get meaning from their context. The photographic fields discussed here usually provide social context for the photographs that they present. He contrasts this with art photography where the context of the photos is not often provided; it is left for people to interpret the images based on their own cultural understanding. The three photographic genres mentioned here usually provide enough background information so that people can understand them, one of the examples given is Bateson and Mead’s ‘Balinese Character’ where each photograph is accompanied by information to enable people to understand the social and historical background of the images. Documentary works and photographic books usually contain extensive information which highlights the social and historical background of the images. But it is usually more complicated than that, not all works provide a great deal of context. Some rely on the images, and the sequencing of images to provide their own context, which allows people to understand the images in their own way. His main point is that context gives images meaning; and if the work does not provide a suitable context then people will usually provide it from their own understanding (Becker 1998: 88-89).

Becker provides examples of how the three photographic genres could be interpreted as a genre other than they are supposed to be, for example reading a documentary picture as visual sociology or photojournalism, concentrating on an image entitled ‘En route from New York to Washington, Club Car’ by Robert Frank (Becker 1998: 89).

He concludes by restating his main areas of concern; that photographers try to put a label on what they are doing, but in the end it depends on how the person viewing the image relates to it. For sociologists, he says these examples are a warning against trying to label images as a specific photographic genre; it is the context that will provide understanding (Becker 1998: 94).





LIST OF REFERENCES

Becker, H. (1998) ‘Visual Sociology, Documentary Photography, and Photojournalism: It’s (Almost) All a Matter of Context’. In Image Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Ed. by Prosser, J. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer: 84-96