“Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle both significant and relevant to history and historical events and everyday life.”

Documentary photography is a form of storytelling, usually with one powerful photograph and deeper meaning which often moves people. This form of photography is used to ‘document’ events and people in everyday real life situations which in the past has been used to bring the attention of an audience to a particular subject, change their perspective and create a social change for example: a photograph taken by Nick Ut in Vietnam in 1972 of children running from a bomb explosion caused outraged protests in America and changed the outcome of the war. Views on documentary photography are controversial as some people believe that certain situations should not be documented which  also brings in social and political associations such as whether or not it is deemed ethical or moral to take these pictures and publish them.

A more recent example of documentary photography is a a photograph taken of a young refugee boy washed ashore aged 3 who was travelling into Europe from Syria. This photograph has been seen all over the world and has alarmed people about how serious the refugee crisis is, it has also incentivated people in power to take action to try and help these refugees. However on the other hand some people have a negative view on this photograph as they think it is disrespectful and shouldn’t have been taken.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/image-of-syrian-boy-washed-up-on-beach-hits-hard-1441282847