Documentary photography is usually informal photographs that show a realistic perception of everyday life that are usually taken of ordinary people. In some cases the photographs can be taken to show an audience what is happening and to warn people and give them further knowledge to make for a social change. ‘Neither art nor advertising, documentary drew on the idea of information as a creative education about actuality, life itself’ 

Documentary photography shows a story within pictures of what is happening in the world. However, any photograph can be seen as a document, as it documents an event in one way or another.

I think that the idea of documentary photography is interesting, as i think that without knowing we have always been documenting our lives in one way or another. But by documenting an occasion by photographs it shows proof that this document happened. These documents are usually real-life things that have happened and they are taken to warm others about what is going on in the world. But sometimes the photographers are taken to document private and special moments to people, that maybe they do not want to share with everyone, but it is special to them. Sometimes the photos are taken to document real-life crisis  to show the media what is happening.

These are some images that i found when i looked up documentary photography. I think that these images are similar in a sense that they document a significant occasion that has happened. However, the the images all represent different life events that have happened.

For example, this image is a very shocking image as in this image it looks like the bird is going to attack the little boy. When looking at this image some people would look and question the photographer as to why they took it and did not help the little boy, and others would say that the photographer took it to document what was happening in this part of the world. This image was probably taken with a telephoto lens, as i can imagine the photographer would not of been able to take this image as close up as it seems because of the bird. I think that because of how close up this image is it makes it more upsetting as you can see the fine details in the image. By fine details i mean that you can see the little boys bones on his ribs which shows how he is obviously malnourished, but also because you can see the birds face and it looks like any moment it is going to jump onto the boy and attack him.  This is why photographs like these question the moral aspects of documentary photography.

Documentary photography can be documented as street photography, photo journalism but also on documentaries central aesthetics – political and moral associations.

Street photography: 

With street photography the images that i found are not upsetting as some of the other versions of documentary photography that i have seen. I think that these images document a normal persons everyday mundane life and i think that these images do not shock you when you look at them. However, i do think that these images look very beautiful and i think that by some of the images being in black and white it makes them more aesthetically pleasing, but i do not think these are the kind of images that go into the news to tell people about how the world is, as i think in everyday life for ordinary people they see this, and some people would say that these kind of photographs do not need to be taken as we can see them all the time.

I think that this street photography image is heart warming because it has a man and a women who look like they are in love. I think that this kind of documentary photograph is special because it shows the bond between two people. I think that how this photograph has been taken is good because the boarders around the man and the woman draw attention to them.

Photojournalism: 

I think that photojournalism photographs seem to document occasions that would be placed into the media for everyone to see what is happening in the world. I think that some of these images are shocking to look at, as it is actually scary to see how some people live and what is actually happening around the world. And if it wasn’t for documentary photography we would not know about these occasions that are happening. These images can also be said to question moral aspects, as some people would argue that you should be helping in these occasions and not taking images, but in my opinion i think that these images need to be taken so that, in some cases they do not happen again but also that if they do happen to us we know what to expect and what is coming of it. If these images were not taken we would never know what was happening and we would never be able to help those who are suffering around the world.

I think that this image is alarming because the faces on the children’s faces is heart breaking as you can see how genuinely terrified the children look. This image is also shocking because there is a naked girl in it, i think any photography that has a naked person in always seems to shock everyone, but i think in this case it is even more shocking because of the circumstance of this image as they are running away from the explosion that you can see in the background of this image. The first thing you see in this image is the children’s faces and then you realise that what they are running away from is ever more terrifying as they are running away to survive as they are running away from an explosion.

Camera as a witness:

Sometimes in documentary photography  the camera can be seen as a witness, this is because the images that are taken document what happened, and the camera proves what has happened and acts as a witness as proof. Sometimes these images raise up certain questions in the community about the moral aspects behind them, but if the images were never taken then how would anyone know about what was happening in the world? I assume that after the photographs take the images they drop their camera and try to help to situation as they are human and they do still care about others, but the photographs need to be taken to warm everyone.