A social issue is a problem that influences a large number of people within society. These are often conflicting opinions based on what is perceived to be a moral right. Social issues affect the world as we live our daily lives. Photography is a key element in documenting these social issues, for example poverty, homelessness or even famine. I chose specifically to examine homelessness in today's society and explore how social documentary photography helped influence viewers of this horrific event and whether it created awareness. Before that, I will first look at the origin of social documentary photography and where it has taken us through history to today. It is a form of documentary photography, the aim of which is to draw public attention to ongoing social issues, sometimes in a specific era. It can also refer to a genre of socially critical photography dedicated to showing the lives of disadvantaged or disadvantaged people - (2). Social documentary photography has been and still is an act of raising awareness by documenting the underprivileged and shocking those who go about their daily lives without looking down on or thinking of those less than themselves within society. But what impact has social documentary photography had on society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay Social documentary photography originated in the 20th century (although documentation in photographic form began in the 19th century) with the work of practical photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the United States. The FSA hired photographers and writers to report and document the lives and dangerous and difficult work of poor and disadvantaged farmers. The photographers documented the horrific situation of these farmers, whose permanent existence was threatened due to the continuing problems America was going through during the American Depression phase. The FSA “attempted to restore confidence in American society” (10). The reality is that Americans were victims of disasters such as dust bowls beyond their control during the period of the Great Depression in America. (10) All of this created a new style of photography for documenting social problems. Social documentary photography has transformed over the years by documenting poverty during wars as well as the suffering of certain races and religions. Today we have started to solve these social problems and now we are focusing on what is happening now. Poverty remains a major problem affecting millions of people in the UK, not to mention other countries with higher figures. Poverty can mean homelessness or the inability to afford the basic necessities of water and food. This can be due to low income, high costs for basic necessities, low levels of education as well as discrimination and weak relationships (6). Social documentary photographers raise awareness by documenting the daily lives of the less fortunate or taking gruesome images to shock viewers, creating a big impact that forces awareness. That's exactly what photographer Lee Jefferies does. Firstly, getting to know people on the streets by sleeping on the streets with them and listening to their stories, then explaining that he wanted to raise awareness through photography.The images taken are frightening and shocking but did the trick. For all images sold, a portion of the money goes to the homeless people who allowed their photo to be taken and to the rest of the homeless charities (7,8,9). Social documentary photography is an act of raising awareness by documenting the underprivileged and shocking those who go about their daily lives without looking down on or thinking of those who are less than themselves within society. This documentation began in the 19th century.Century. It was in the 20th century that photographers were hired by the FSA (Farm Security Administration) to document the dangerous and difficult work of poor farmers. During the period of the Great Depression in America. All of this created a new form of documentary photography in documenting social issues. Arthur Rothstein - Social documentary photographer - photo of a farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, 1936. ""Every day was the same then. For a three-year-old, you go out and play, the dust blows and the sand blows, and you don't know how else to do it. One evening a black feather duster arrived here from the north. We had kerosene lamps. And it was so dark you couldn't see with kerosene lamps. —Darrel Coble. (the boy on the right in the photo, recalling the Dust Bowl days as an adult)"" - (6) The FSA photographs created sympathy for agricultural citizens through their wide circulation in newspapers and magazines of the time. As expected, these photographs also proved how necessary government aid programs were to the survival of those who were hit hardest by the Depression and the Dust Bowl disasters. - (6) The combined effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl drought devastated the country physically, financially, and emotionally in the 1930s. The Great Depression began with a severe economic downturn in 1929 and lasted for more than a decade. Frenzied speculation in the stock market, particularly from investors who borrowed money to buy stocks, pushed the market to unreasonably high levels. When the value of stocks began to fall, investors panicked. The huge selloff that followed plunged the country into years of high unemployment and bank closures. By a terrible coincidence, the Dust Bowl disaster began around the same time as the Great Depression. Extreme weather conditions brought droughts and high winds to the southern plains. This primarily affected Texas and Oklahoma as well as western Kansas and eastern areas of Colorado and New Mexico. The land was already damaged by hard-rooted soils due to drying out and other plots of land were overexploited. Drought, combined with strong winds, further depleted the soil, creating fearsome dust storms - (6). My perception/opinions... This image shows me the horrible daily life of a farmer in America during the Great Depression period and the dust bowls. which happened around the same time. It was a horrible time for Americans and they all kept the American dream in mind even though the reality was far from a dream. Their house is an old shed-like building with worn and broken seams, which shows me the high level of poverty in this horrible time. As a viewer, I feel like it impacted me in a way that made me feel more grateful for the house I live in and the conditions I live in. Seeing this image, the impacton society should have been huge at the time with the feeling of wanting change, change towards needing change. The image shows how isolated people were at that time, suggesting not only poor conditions but also a rather sad and lonely life. This is why people in this era have many children. Other images from this period include Dorothea Lange's photograph "Migrant Mother" which was taken in 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression. The viewer can see the sad and hopeless look on the mother's appearance, which makes them wonder what she is worried about. Is she worried about her family? Is she wondering how she's going to put food on her table that day? Will her children ever be okay again? Social documentary photography continued throughout the year, documenting social events, issues and problems. These included wars and battles, protests and poverty. This is a famous image by John Florea, a war photographer who spent time in concentration camps, documenting in photographic form the reality and truth of the camps and the conditions there. Jean Florea (1916 – 2000) (1) had photographs that ranged dramatically from comical images like those in “Chronicler Sidney and Bob Hope, Hollywood, 1943” to observations of concentration camps. These brutal images of war are horrific to watch and therefore create social awareness if shared with media and newspapers. John Florea - The bodies of 3,000 Nazi slaves being prepared for burial, Nrdhausen, Germany, 1945. My perception of this image shows the true horrific impact of the Nazis on wartime slaves, which included the Jewish community and the captured . Once they no longer serve any purpose as slaves, they are then gassed or shot. Most died of starvation or disease because they had little food and virtually no hygiene or even health care. The way they are lined up in rows makes them look like criminals, as if it is because of their religion or the fact that they come from another (foreign) country. Furthermore, what they believe in, they are wrong and oppose Hitler and therefore deserve to be punished. Furthermore, the conflict created, even though they are all different people, Jews are put on the same level because of what they believe in therefore treated like criminals. Furthermore, the Nazis looked down on them as if they had done a greater good for their country by getting rid of those who were known to be successful and wealthy, which constituted a "treat" in Hitler's eyes. Anyone who goes against Hitler's beliefs and rules is considered a threat. On top of that, the place looks like a dump for the Nazis, where they pile them (Jews) up ready to be buried en masse or burned, like we do with waste that cannot be reused. Furthermore, the soldiers walk away as if it were the end of their working day, that is, their normal daily life. The image has a one-point perspective with the endless rows of corpses leading up to the end of this scene. dark silhouette; this gives the image a hellish appearance, as if the bodies are being sucked to the end of their lives, ready to be burned into the depths of non-existence. Overall, the image disturbs me with the idea of ​​death and the idea that one person's opinion managed to end the lives of countless innocent people. On top of that, I feel useless as a viewer because this is happening in the past and nothing I can do can bring these Jews back. If I had seen this image at the time (1945), I would have been horrified and, with all possible powers, I would have wanted to act toput an end to this madness. “Sometimes they got the picture no one asked for,” LIFE editors wrote in a November 5, 1945. - (2) “Some people, like Robert Capa, knew beforehand what war was. Not John Florea,” says Feyeux. “It shows in the photos. It was a terrible shock for him. » - (2) “Have you ever been hit hard in the stomach, lost your breath and fallen to your knees? You know how much it hurts,” Florea told fellow LIFE photographer John Loengard in 1993, reflecting on his experience as a war correspondent. “I felt like someone had hit me so hard that I cried.” - (2) These statements inform me that the images captured by these documentary (social) photographers had a huge impact at the time of the war because they were horrifying and shocking. Almost everyone watching can't do anything about the war except cry and be heartbroken, the most they can protest. This is the horrible reality of social documentary photography, you can watch but not always react to make changes, but the impact on opinions was there. In reality, these deaths were victims of the American terrorist attack on Nordhausen on April 4, 1945. Although World War II was almost over, German cities continued to be bombed. As a result, the town of Nordhausen was bombed almost completely. destroyed the whole city. April 4 was 2 days before the evacuation of the camp to Bergen-Belsen causing tragic and unnecessary deaths due to the destruction of the Boelke barracks in which the detainees were housed. "The bodies of nearly 3,000 slave workers buried by American soldiers. - (2) John Florea - Prisoner in the barracks of a concentration camp in Nordhausen, Germany, 1945. This is another image from John Florea showing the conditions in which prisoners of war had to live, the shadow that covers the man's eyes is deep and dark leading to the look of despair as he looks at the camera Additionally, the shadow also shows the. definition of the bones in his face, he is underweight and most likely starving The way he is sitting suggests he is weak, his arm lifting his body just to sit. Light pours into the image. but she's been guided around wires and barricades, it's like there's no way out Social documentary photography is a subject that has been continually addressed by many photographers over the decades, documenting. most often protests and poverty these days. Lee Jefferies is a photographer who has taken social documentary photography into his own hands. He captures intimate photos of the homeless to raise awareness for those ignored on the streets. Lee Jefferies is an accountant and amateur sports photographer. He creates intimate portraits of homeless people, done in gruesome detail that can be perceived as “uncomfortable” with “every grain of dirt and scar exposed” (1). It all started with Jefferies in London before running the marathon where he was taking photos. He noticed among the crowd that there was a young homeless girl at the door of a shop in Leicester Square who had gone unnoticed by the colossal number of tourists. Jefferies decided to take a photo of her, but he stayed away. By noticing him, “she made a big deal” – Jefferies (1). Jefferies spoke to the girl to find out her story and from that moment her project was born to capture intimate photos of the homeless to raise awareness and funds for the homeless. He pays his “subjects” for the photos he takes and continues to help them when their photos make money. Somehomeless people are not as inclined as others to let Jefferies take the photo and this project had its risks since Jefferies even had a gun put to his head and was demanded money, even if he pays everyone anyway. This is self-funded. Jefferies chooses its “topics” by selecting the weather; he can “see something in their eyes” and feel the emotion otherwise the image “won’t work” and will therefore lack impact. - (1). Jefferies first films naturally, with natural lighting and capturing in black and white. Then, he edits the photos to give them this grainy side in order to create impact and emotion within his images. He claims that this gives his photographs a more “artistic” appearance - (1). This image steals my heart as a viewer and makes me feel helpless to provide for this little girl. His eyes are the first to come out for me, they are watery and tell his story, just with a sad look. Although we cannot know the story of this little girl, you can make suggestions about what she may have experienced. This could range from abandonment to her parents living with her on the street because they couldn't afford housing or even the little girl running away from home. The way she looks up creates dark shadows not only below but also above her eyes; she is tired and weak. The bags under her eyes suggest a lack of sleep, this could be due to the conditions on the street where she might be too scared or too cold to sleep. Additionally, her face looks slightly screwed up, like she's trying to hold back all her emotions and bottle up her feelings; she is on the verge of tears. Additionally, her clothes are dirty, suggesting that she has nothing else. On closer inspection it seems the clothes are some sort of uniform for school, is she going to school and getting the education she deserves as a child with the right to learn and have the same chances in life as everyone else. Also, her hair is blowing across her face in clumps, this suggests to me as a viewer that she has no place to clean and shower, as grease makes your hair mat and clump. Overall, the sad and desperate look that the little girl expresses in this imager that Lee Jefferies captured in is heartbreaking and will definitely create a wider impact to think about the forgotten people of the streets. Through the grainy editing that Jefferies uses in his footage, he is able to achieve the pinnacle of impact by bringing out every little detail in the homeless people's faces so that we, as viewers, can interpret the horrible reality of the story of the homeless girl. This image is another one from Lee Jefferies, here I now show that homeless people can be of all ages and genders and as you can imagine Lee Jefferies met a wide variety of people during his project on the homeless, all with different stories. . With this man, he looks really old and tired with all the wrinkles covering his face. Not only that, his face is messed up but this time it's not sadness, it's more anger and aggression. This could suggest to the viewer that this man has turned to drugs and alcohol to keep away his sadness and grief. Looking deeper, I can see someone who may have taken risks, and with the anger, it could suggest that they could have been successful in life before becoming homeless. With one eye closed, it opens up questions for the viewer, intrigues them into the photo, creating impact, which is what Jefferies set out to do. Finally, her hair is grown out and tangled (not.