Real People, Real Photos!!

Why do we wait until that last moment to capture people that matter the most to us in photos? Why not now? Documentary photography focused on capturing people in their natural moments is a real challenge and nothing short of a legacy if you succeed. Documenting your loved ones and the moments spent with them should not come last in your train of thought. People that you love are what make your life worth living. It almost becomes our obligation to document the lives and times of our loved ones and the ones closest to us. It is not just about your family, it includes your dear friends and your colleagues. I’m not just talking about your birthdays and weddings, but how everyday life and its countless precious moments affect your outlook on life.

Documentary photography is so popular among many photography enthusiasts solely because of its form. It is used to chronicle significant event and moments of historical importance. You don’t have to be a professional photojournalist or a real life reporter to go about it. You can be an amateur or an artist or someone who just happened to tumble upon your brother’s camera. What the photographer aims here is to produce truthful and candid photos of the most common people in the most taken for granted moments and that are open to interpretation.

Documentary photography of people demands the photographer to get into their daily life, step into their shoes and walk a few miles. Listening to their stories, capturing whatever moments that come naturally create something that will give the onlooker a glimpse of their pains, struggles and triumphs in life and mean quite more down the road. This is called capturing the true essence of human nature. A documentary photographer would have to decide beforehand how and what he wants to capture in his camera. Just being in your muse’s home and using their hand towel is not something that will give you an insight of who they truly are. If the muse is someone close to you, you would know by heart what it is about them that is endearing to you so much that makes you want to click stills again and again.

Document a part of their personality that you find to be the most inspiring and think that will shine through in the pictures; their talent, wisdom, gentleness, nurturing nature or plain honesty; it could be anything. Always remember to capture the details and just wait for the right scene setters. Documentary photography doesn’t necessarily mean showing faces; so one can be quite creative at times. Every still that you capture is a moving moment; you just have to look deeper.