Photographic Reportage by Eric Spencer

What is Photographic Reportage exactly? Henri Cartier-Bresson seems to deliberate his thoughts regarding what this concept means. He writes "sometimes there is one unique picture whose composition possesses such vigor and richness and whose content so radiates outward from it, that this single picture is a whole story in itself." Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote with such eloquence, he is essentially satin that the picture one uses to report with has to be self explanatory. Anyone who has experience viewing famous pictures from the Vietnam War can recall the picture of the vietcong soldier getting executed or the naked girl running down the street. These pictures are examples of photographic reportage. In either of the pictures it is very clear what is occurring and the photographer by whatever faculties manages to instill a kind of out of body experience that the subjects are experiencing. It is not readily available to recognize how much skill and courage the photographer needs to capture this moment in the way that is most effective for viewing. 

Here is this unpleasant image of the vietcong prisoner being executed. It's a horrific picture however it gets the point across. Bresson said "the picture-story involves a joint operation between the brain, the eye, and the heart. It's true that when a normal person looks at this image a symphony of affective responses occur between all the aforementioned human faculties. The executor looks like this task is trivial as he stands with militant bravado. A soldier in the background looks stressed out for he will witness a human being executed for the however many-ith time yet even so for him watching death never gets easier. We can tell business is not usual, that marshal law is being enforced as there is no commercial/day-to-day living activity. There is debris in the street so it is presumable that people aren't doing so great monetarily and most likely emotionally as well. Lastly plaid shirt id just about to be dispatched forever and his flinching communicates that he is stressed out as well. there is nothing calm or serene about this person; this is real life.
The reading talked about when the photographer works the amount of precision has to be sufficient or else the reality of the situation wont be as effectively portrayed. Not only is the photographer interacting with the reality of the situation the photographer has to know which material is essential and which material is not. Bresson talks about how there is an over abundance of "shootable" material and the good photographer is the one who is able to discern good content from great content. Let's just try and be less violent as a population so photographers can photograph other things.