Photographs and Lives

I think the one thing I really realized from the discussion about photojournalism is the completely different methods of documentaries. There is of course the detached approach, where one heads into an area, and remains separate from it, and does everything objectively. This is definitely the History Channel style where one talks to experts, sees the subject from an overall view, and simply receives information. I think of it as the educational videos we saw in school, on steroids.
The other method, which is how the photo essays were conducted, is to get into the subject's life. He took it a step further and actually integrated himself into their lives. This is shown in part by his South America Photo Essay, where he managed to get a whole echelon of drug-affected lives to open up and be photographed by him. Hearing his stories makes me definately realize how much perseverance is needed for documentaries. I saw this even more on his self-mutilation photos. Hearing how he'd have subjects call him at 3 in the morning, really drives home the point of just how integrated he had to become to get those photos.
As to how to relate it to my project, I can definitely say that I doubt I be able to become as integrated as he was in the short time that I have, however, helps me when thinking of any future projects, in that it's never too early to start making connections.