Considering apparitions: towards a conceptual documentary photography methodology

Abstract

This text aims at systematizing and analysing a photography methodology observed from practices situated within the Photography Department in the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in The Netherlands. The theoretical reasoning and practical applications of the referred working method parts from a specific visuality characterized by an engagement and estrangement towards the photographic subject (DEXTER, 2003), using as main reference the catalog 'Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth-Century Photograph'. Contemporary publications on this topic have also been used for this analysis, along with interviews with key photographers of the art academy in The Netherlands. The research investigated how procedural steps can dramatically influence a project or work of art, not only for educational purposes, but as a tool for creating new ways of retrieving knowledge over images and their connection to world experience.The proposed photography methodology works as an instrument to potentialize revelations regarding fascinations and interests of a photographer towards his or her topic, still largely based on the actual experience of visualizing a subject matter, facilitating conscious aesthetic choices.