Social+Documentation,+Document+Photography



Definition: "Taking of photographs to provide a record of social and political situations with the aim of conveying information."

Social Documentation is a specific photography genre which developed during the end of the 19th century. This genre flourished during the 1930s, due to the belief that the world was full of facts, which could be translated and constructed into a transparent narrative (Hirsch, 283). The following is a list of several social documentary photographers from the late 19th to the early 20th century: > > >
 * Jacob A. Riis (1849 - 1914)
 * Lewis Wickes Hine (1874- 1940)
 * Dorothea Lange (1895- 1965)
 * Walker Evans (1903- 1975)
 * Arthur Rothstein (1915- 1985)

Hirsch, Robert. Seizing the Light: A History of Documentary Photography. Boston, McGrawHill: 2000.