At the end of Chapter 1 of Doing Documentary Work, Robert Coles recalls William Carlos Williams describing the difference between being with people in their own private space and then later sitting at his typewriter in his home in Rutherford. Coles admires Williams because he wasn’t just a doctor or a writer but someone who tried to bridge both worlds. Williams explains that “When I’m there, sitting with those folks, listening and talking, I’m part of that life, and I’m near it in my head, too… Back here, sitting near this typewriter — it’s different. I’m a writer. I’m a doctor living in Rutherford who is describing ‘a world elsewhere.”
The idea of location is both a physical place while also being a place of perspective showing that documentary works shifts between being immersed in the lives of people who are being documented and then stepping back to try and give an unbiased interpretation. This tension highlights how our own location shapes the stories we tell. This matters because it shows that no one can fully separate themselves from their own background. Even when we try to be objective our location will always influence what we notice and how we describe it.
I can relate to this as my summer job put me into a position that I was not used to and found my beliefs shifting as I worked day to day. Working in a kitchen I felt like an outsider. Not only that, almost everyone was 10 to 15 years older than me. Though eventually I started to fit in more and started learning and sharing in the struggles, however, when I went home at the end of the night, I realized how different my daily life was from theirs. Like Williams described, I felt immersed while I was there, but aware afterward that I was only visiting a world that others lived every day.
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