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==History==
==History==
{{Buzzwords|section|buzzwords (e.g. <nowiki>example buzzwords here</nowiki>)|date=June 2013}}
The term ''documentary'' applied to photography antedates the mode or genre itself. Photographs meant to accurately describe otherwise unknown, hidden, forbidden, or difficult-to-access places or circumstances date to the earliest daguerreotype and calotype "surveys" of the ruins of the Near East, Egypt, and the American wilderness areas. Nineteenth century archaeologist [[John Beasly Greene]], for example, traveled to Nubia in the early 1850s to photograph the major ruins of the region;<ref>Will Stapp, "John Beasly Greene", ''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography''New York and Oxford, England: Routledge, 2007, pp. 619-622</ref> One early documentation project was the French ''Missions Heliographiques'' organized by the official ''Commission des Monuments historiques'' to develop an archive of France's rapidly disappearing architectural and human heritage; the project included such photographic luminaries as [[Henri Le Secq]], [[Edouard Denis Baldus]], and [[Gustave Le Gray]].


PHOTOS.....
In the United States, photographs tracing the progress of the [[American Civil War]] by photographers for at least three consortia of photographic publisher-distributors, most notably [[Mathew Brady]] and [[Alexander Gardner (photographer)|Alexander Gardner]], resulted in a major archive of photographs ranging from dry records of battle sites to harrowing images of the dead by [[Timothy H. O'Sullivan|Timothy O'Sullivan]] and evocative images by [[George N. Barnard]]. A huge body of photography of the vast regions of the Great West was produced by official government photographers for the [[Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories]] (a predecessor of the [[USGS]]), during the period 1868&ndash;1878, including most notably the photographers [[Timothy H. O'Sullivan|Timothy O'Sullivan]] and [[William Henry Jackson]].<ref>Weston Naef aand James N. Wood, ''Era of Exploration'' (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975); Joel Snyder, ''American Frontiers: The Photographs of Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1867&ndash;1874'' (Millerton, New York: Aperture, 1981); [[Peter Bacon Hales]], ''William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988).</ref>


Both the Civil War and USGS photographic works point up an important feature of documentary photography: the production of an archive of historical significance, and the distribution to a wide audience through publication. The US Government published Survey photographs in the annual ''Reports'', as well as portfolios designed to encourage continued funding of scientific surveys.


The development of new reproduction methods for photography provided impetus for the next era of documentary photography, in the late 1880s and 1890s, and reaching into the early decades of the 20th century. This period decisively shifted documentary from antiquarian and landscape subjects to that of the city and its crises.<ref>[[Peter B. Hales]], ''Silver Cities: Photographing American Urbanization, 1839&ndash;1939'' (Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2006), pp. 271-348.</ref> The refining of [[photogravure]] methods, and then the introduction of [[halftone]] reproduction around 1890 made low cost mass-reproduction in newspapers, magazines and books possible. The figure most directly associated with the birth of this new form of documentary is the journalist and urban social reformer [[Jacob Riis]]. Riis was a New York police-beat reporter who had been converted to urban social reform ideas by his contact with medical and public-health officials, some of whom were amateur photographers. Riis used these acquaintances at first to gather photographs, but eventually took up the camera himself. His books, most notably ''[[How the Other Half Lives]]'' of 1890 and ''[[The Children of the Slums]]'' of 1892, used those photographs, but increasingly he also employed visual materials from a wide variety of sources, including police "mug shots" and photojournalistic images.


Riis's documentary photography was passionately devoted to changing the inhumane conditions under which the poor lived in the rapidly expanding urban-industrial centers. His work succeeded in embedding photography in urban reform movements, notably the [[Social Gospel]] and [[Progressivism|Progressive]] movements. His most famous successor was the photographer [[Lewis Wickes Hine]], whose systematic surveys of conditions of child-labor in particular, made for the [[National Child Labor Commission]] and published in sociological journals like [[The Survey]], are generally credited with strongly influencing the development of child-labor laws in New York and the United States more generally.


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In the 1930s, the [[Great Depression]] brought a new wave of documentary, both of rural and urban conditions. The [[Farm Security Administration]], a common term for the Historical Division, supervised by [[Roy Stryker]], funded legendary photographic documentarians, including [[Walker Evans]], [[Dorothea Lange]], [[Russell Lee (photographer)|Russell Lee]], [[John Vachon]], and [[Marion Post Wolcott]] among others. This generation of documentary photographers is generally credited for codifying the documentary code of accuracy mixed with impassioned advocacy, with the goal of arousing public commitment to social change.<ref>William Stott, ''Documentary Expression and Thirties' America'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973); Maren Stange, ''Symbols of Ideal Life'' (New York and Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989).</ref>

During the wartime and postwar eras, documentary photography increasingly became subsumed under the rubric of [[photojournalism]]. Swiss-American photographer [[Robert Frank]] is generally credited with developing a counterstrain of more personal, evocative, and complex documentary, exemplified by his work in the 1950s, published in the United States in his 1959 book, ''[[The Americans (photography)|The Americans]]''. In the early 1960s, his influence on photographers like [[Garry Winogrand]] and [[Lee Friedlander]] resulted in an important exhibition at the [[Museum of Modern Art]] (MoMA), which brought those two photographers together with their colleague [[Diane Arbus]] under the title, ''New Documents''. MoMA curator [[John Szarkowski]] proposed in that exhibition that a new generation, committed not to social change but to formal and iconographical investigation of the social experience of modernity, had replaced the older forms of [[social documentary photography]].

In the 1970s and 1980s, a spirited attack on traditional documentary was mounted by historians, critics, and photographers. One of the most notable was the photographer-critic [[Allan Sekula]], whose ideas and the accompanying bodies of pictures he produced, influenced a generation of "new new documentary" photographers, whose work was philosophically more rigorous, often more stridently leftist in its politics. Sekula emerged as a champion of these photographers, in critical writing and editorial work. Notable among this generation are the photographers [[Fred Lonidier]], whose 'Health and Safety Game" of 1976 became a model of post-documentary, and [[Martha Rosler]], whose "The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems" of 1974-75 served as a milestone in the critique of classical humanistic documentary as the work of privileged elites imposing their visions and values on the dis-empowered.

[[image:MRO Cuba Harvest 01.jpg|thumb|right|[[Manuel Rivera-Ortiz]]: Tobacco Harvesting, Valle de Viñales, Cuba 2002]] Since the late 1990s, an increased interest in documentary photography and its longer term perspective can be observed. [[Nicholas Nixon]] extensively documented issues surrounded by American life. [[South Africa]]n documentary photographer [[Pieter Hugo]] engaged in documenting art traditions with a focus on African communities.<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/africa-united-photographer-pieter-hugo-casts-a-new-light-on-tired-stereotypes-of-his-home-continent-2264048.html The Independent]</ref> [[Antonin Kratochvil]] photographed a wide variety of subjects, including Mongolia's street children for the Museum of Natural History.<ref>[http://www.worldpressphoto.org/antonin-kratochvil World Press Photo]</ref> [[Fazal Sheikh]] sought to reflect the realities of the most underprivileged peoples of different third world countries. [[Manuel Rivera-Ortiz]], affected by his own experience of growing up poor in rural [[Puerto Rico]], documented the lives of people in developing countries such as Cuba, or India, showing the dignity of the Dalit ("Untouchable") caste, or the [[Aymara ethnic group|Aymara]] living in the arid [[altiplano]] of Bolivia.<ref>Rangefinder, The Magazine for Professional Photographers, April 2008, pg. 126 [http://www.rangefindermag.com/storage/articles/Apr08_122.pdf]</ref><ref>ConXion Magazine (a Gannett publication) cover story, August 2004</ref><ref>Democrat & Chronicle December 17, 2006, cover story, Section C</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imaginginfo.com/web/online/Industry-News/Kodak-Presents-Manuel-Rivera-Ortiz-Exhibit-of-India-and-Corresponding-Works-on-Canvas-/4$2499|title=Kodak Presents Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Exhibit of India|publisher=Imaging Info|accessdate=2010-03-07}}</ref>


==Documentary photography vs. photojournalism==
==Documentary photography vs. photojournalism==

Revision as of 10:48, 4 March 2014

Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.

History

PHOTOS.....



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Documentary photography vs. photojournalism

Documentary photography generally relates to longer term projects with a more complex story line, while photojournalism concerns more breaking news stories. The two approaches often overlap.[1]

Acceptance by the art world

Since the late 1970s, the decline of magazine published photography meant traditional forums for such work were vanishing. Many documentary photographers have now focused on the art world and galleries of a way of presenting their work and making a living. Traditional documentary photography has found a place in dedicated photography galleries alongside other artists working in painting, sculpture and modern media.[2]

Notable documentary photographers

Main article: list of photographers
Migrant Mother, a famous photo by Dorothea Lange, taken during the Great Depression.

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United States

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Europe

Other

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See also

References

  1. ^ Photojournalism and documentary photography
  2. ^ Malo, Alejandro. "Documentary Art". ZoneZero. Retrieved 2012-11-16. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

General

  • "A New History of Photography" Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft/Michel Frizot 1998
  • "DOWN THE LINE; LIGHT RAIL'S FIRST DAY; Getting off on the right track"; Star Tribune, June 27, 2004.
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