Documentary Photography Defintion

Definition- 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. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit.

 In this image, it clearly shows a vulture stalking a starved child, waiting for it to die, this graphic shot is a great documentary piece as it shows off the true nature of starvation in certain countries.

 In this image, the picture is documenting hobo's travelling across America, this is a great shot as it shows off the reality of what hobo's go to, to actually travel, it shows them in a moving train this is a very revealing picture.

 This image shows off the reality of poverty, this is a great documentary piece as it shows off how poverty affects children this makes it very truthful and exposing as you can see in the image how dirty the area he is squatting in is, and how poor he is with the clothes that he is wearing.

This image shows off what it was like for the workers in New York during the early 1900's building skyscrapers, this is a great documentary piece as it shows off their everyday situation and their means to stay alive and provide a living, this highlights the danger of this type of work.

My own definition of documentary photography; documentary photography is the capturing of history, historical contexts and everyday life, this can be shot by anyone as an artistic pursuit, pastime etc but is also a professional career.