Illuminations: Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White's work was some of the first documentary photography I was exposed to. I remember studying it in seventh grade and immediately wanting to be an influential photographer, just like her. Interestingly, the aspects of her career discussed in the excerpt which excited and motivated her were the same reasons I realized I was not cut out for the business.

It is the elbowing, crawling, and constant vigilance that go along with shooting a particular event for documentary purposes that discouraged me, whereas these things invigorated Bourke-White. She seems as if she welcomed challenging assignments because they made her earn the images she produced. It seems incredible that she did not become discouraged when faced with intense press competition and even legal repercussions for her work. I admire the fact that instead of fighting tooth-and-nail to get the same shot as the other big press photographers, she preferred to shoot from more inventive angles that were available to her. 

I also would argue that the element of press competition is not one that the public often takes into account when looking as photographs distributed through mass media. Is this because of the tendency of this genre of photography to be indexical of reality? Or does the art of the documentary photograph rest in the photographer's innovative or unique perspective?