Basics of fine-art photography/Creating works in a documentary photography

Documentary photography is a direction of photographic art based on the reproduction of real events.

Passenger bus crash in Namibia.
Photo from the book «Third African trip» p. 48

General information

The genre includes the depiction of moments of everyday life, historical events, natural disasters, etc. It partly overlaps with reportage photography, but there are some differences, one of them — the more complex storyline. It also has some points of contact with ethnographic, street and genre photography; used in photojournalism, amateur and art photography.

Documentary photography is not limited to creating works with people in the frame, and may combine natural objects, fauna and inanimate objects, but in any case, the works of supporters of this branch of photographic art are emotional and related to human emotions.

Ways of implementation

It is impossible to give practical advice on how to achieve certain successes in documentary filming. In this case, the author's skill and practical skills do not take precedence over chance, and the time and place of events are sometimes difficult to predict. Always have a handy camera at hand, and luck will smile on you sooner or later. Better still, travel around the planet practicing hobo tourism, where adventures are always plentiful.