Documentary photography

1. Documentary photography "to see what the world looks like in photographs."

2. 1850s • From the 1850s in America, photography was used for war reportage. Notable photographers in this era were Robert Fenton and Matthew B Brady who photographed the American Civil War and the Crimean War respectively. Early documentary photography focused on industry and urban settings and often photographers used photography as a tool for social reform.

3. Early 1900s • In the 1930s, the concept of a story told through a series of photography, a photographic essay, was born. It is this ability to work in series which separates documentary photography from photojournalism, often coupled with a moral stance on the part of the photographer who hopes to impart to the viewer a greater understanding of how his subjects live. This series of images, or photo essay, is more powerful in conveying the photographers than a single image by itself.

4. Late 1900s • Salgado joined Magnum photo agency in 1994, contributing artistic, meaningful documents of global issues and cultures, as well as some of the most pristine places on earth. Salgado is a highly respected photojournalist with a reputation earned from his black and white images of people taken in places from around the world. His work covers a period 30 years and shows us the effects of war, disease, famine and poverty in black and white images created with great artistry. Salgado calls on us to notice what is happening on our own planet, and often does so with the eye of an aesthete.

5. 2010 The style now has more brighter colours and more simple. It tells a story instead of just documenting the people.