I have always been a quiet person and because of that I have been inherently drawn to documentary photography, in that, the technique is used to discover and tell a story. Without the use of words, a photographer can use the nature of a photograph to narrate the story that exists without it being influenced by our own oral interpretation; the photographer is in search for a visual representation of truth, as we tend to trust our eyes more than our ears. This search drives the need to find truth in the nuanced details that make life and culture so fascinating; the stories themselves. That being said, I have found Alex Harris’ documentary photography collection, “The Idea of Cuba”, to be the most adherent to my own interests and reasons for creating a documentary body of work.
What first drew me to Harris’ work was the way he handled the presentation of a common idea by use of three different subject matters; each being photographed respectively in their own aesthetic and technique. Alex Harris’ goal was to depict the essence of the modern Cuba. He did so through the means of reversing the obsolete attitude and viewpoint the West, essentially, America, has towards Cuba. His book was divided into three sections: photos of Cuban landscapes through the lens of classic American car windshields, photos of Jose Martin statues in public spaces, and portraits of Cuban prostitutes. By choosing these three subject matters, Harris was able to juxtapose America’s idealization of Cuba, as well to show the self-reflection of Cuba’s current social-economic status in comparison to its own idealized view. The simple, yet genius technique worked to show various parts of the whole, each section being an individual aspect, whilst still tying this overbearing concept all together. I find myself constantly struggling to go beyond the surface of concept while still being able to convey my ideas to the public. In my beginnings, my work was often individual photos that stood on their own. But, translation and communication were lacking. With my educational experience, I have and still am evolvehving into building bodies of work, yet I still struggle as I find myself focusing on a single aspect of a concept. Harris avoids this problem completely by providing a broader context, relating the specific concept to a broader audience. This method, I feel, works especially well when dealing with a culture and its experience, often multi-layered, which I often find myself photographing, as I am doing so for this semester.
In his interview on CNN, when talking about this body of work, Alex Harris says he went to Cuba as a photographer not trying to say anything, but trying to see what the pictures would tell people. I found this hypocritical as all photographers have intentions when taking photographs. He wanted to show the public the real Cuba. He did not necessarily know at the beginning what stories to tell, but he knew what he wanted as the outcome. In cultural documentary photography, I find there being a natural sense of justice attached and I found this in Harris’ work. He is showing a struggling people who want the freedoms that Western societies have. Whether he intended this to be the case or not, by choosing such a subject matter, this sense of justice does come through and he is responsible because he is the photographer. I personally don’t mind if my work has this attached feeling to it. I am a fighter for equality and justice. It is part of who I am and it is bound to come out through my photography; through choice of concept, and subject matter. By denying what naturally exists, you deny documentary photography itself. Also, all media influences thought, whether we like it or not. Sadly, there is no true objective viewpoint when it comes to sharing. We are beings of developed influence and perspective; we are opinionated by nature. As individuals and documentary photographers, we choose what to photograph and these photographs tell the story as we see it, stemming from our eye and cognitive thought.
But that aside, the deepest connection I felt with Harris’ work was this search for cultural truth. For some reason we have this need as photographers to share with the world our interest in this. Why must we take pictures? Why must we explore other cultures? I personally use culture and society in my search for the tragedy and beauty of what it means to be human and I can see this in his work as well. By doing so, we are constantly asking why. Why are things the way they are? Why do we have these different and shared perspectives and experiences? Why do we choose to do the things we do? And what causes these choices? Through documentary photography, I am able to explore these questions, asking them to the world, attempting to answer them for myself. This drive to tell stories and truths relieve some sort of burden we have on our minds. Maybe it is because we are naturally so judgmental and we are trying to justify our own perception. I am not sure, but I do know that it is necessary to look at others in order to view ourselves.
Photography has allowed for visualization of thought; a communicative means besides that of spoken and written word. And as I stated earlier, we trust our eyes more than we do our ears. What we see is and by exploring ideas visually, new perspectives are to be had that were once not there. We as photographers choose not to write or to speak. We choose to show and as documentary photographers, we choose to show what is.
