Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers

“Everything in the world must be shown and people around the world must have an idea of what’s happening to the other people around the world. I believe this is a function of the vector that the documentary photographer must have, to show one person’s existence to another.”—Sebastião Salgado

Illustrated with a compelling image from each photographer, Witness in Our Time traces the recent history of social documentary photography in the words of twenty-two of the genre’s best photographers, editors, and curators, showing that the profession remains vital, innovative, and committed to social change. Featuring interviews with Hansel Mieth, Walter Rosenblum, Michelle Vignes, Wayne Miller, Peter Magubane, Matt Herron, Jill Freedman, Mary Ellen Mark, Earl Dotter, Eugene Richards, Susan Meiselas, Sebastião Salgado, Graciela Iturbide, Antonin Kratochvil, Donna Ferrato, Joseph Rodriguez, Dayanita Singh, Fazal Sheikh, Gifford Hampshire, Peter Howe, Colin Jacobson, and Ann Wilkes Tucker.

Introduction: Seeing and believing / Kerry Tremain —
Hansel Mieth: the depression and the early days of Life —
Walter Rosenblum: Lewis Hine, Paul Strand, and the Photo League —
Michelle Vignes: Magnum Photo Agency : the early years —
Wayne Miller: World War II and the family of man —
Peter Magubane: a black photographer in Apartheid South Africa —
Matt Herron: the Civil Rights movement and the Southern documentary project —
Jill Freedman: Resurrection City —
Mary Ellen Mark: streetwise photographer —
Earl Dotter: the United Mine Workers —
Eugene Richards: Americans we —
Susan Meiselas: Central America and human rights —
Sebastião Salgado: workers —
Graciela Iturbide: the indigenous of Mexico —
Antonin Kratochvil: the fall of the Iron Curtain —
Donna Ferrato: living with the enemy : domestic violence —
Joseph Rodriguez: in the barrio —
Dayanita Singh: a truer India —
Fazal Sheikh: portrait of a refugee —
Gifford Hampshire: the Environmental Protection Agency’s Project DOCUMERICA —
Peter Howe: Life magazine and Outtakes —
Colin Jacobson: Independent magazine and Reportage —
Anne Wilkes Tucker: the museum context —
Fred Ritchin: the fish are last to know about the water: the emerging digital revolution —
Rondal Partridge: Dorothea Lange in the field —
Don McCullin: Vietnam : the Battle of Hue, 1968 —
Bill Owens: Suburbia and a passion for seeing his world —
Larry Fink: Social graces —
David Goldblatt: once an enemy : Apartheid and the New South Africa —
Maya Goded: Tierra Negra —
Afterword: Witness in our time / Ken Light