Documentary: New Cultures, New Spaces

     This article in Photography: A Critical Introduction described the ways that documentary photography has changed over the years and walked away from it's initial purpose. It was said that documentary photography began as a usually government funded trip to learn about what was going on in a certain area and to show problematic situations. The images were never meant to be shown on their own, but as a group and represent a certain struggle or issue at the time. Robert Frank had changed the perception of documentary though when he created his book of photos called The Americans. This consisted of photos of average Americans doing what they normally do on a regular day. The subjects ranged from cowboys to coffins and showed them in an almost tragic way. His photos were almost saying that none of the stuff that Americans do have an special meaning. This started to pave the way for street photography and documenting people in their natural habitats, but doing obscure things. The focus on government projects and concern had moved to interest in the people and the world around the photography and capturing the interests that differ among humans. It was stated that documentary photography had been liberated from the political project that it had formerly been associated with. Photography was now freeing itself from it's old constraints.