For the last decades documentary photography has become not only a branch of art but also an effective way of informing the society. The main task of the photography is not merely to depict the reality as ideal as possible. Now this field is concerned with much more important goal, to bear topical problems to the society from all over the world. Many articles are dedicated to this theme, and some of them will be considered here.
In her work, Susan Sontag (Source 2) clarifies perfectly well why photography has become so essential in our lives. First of all, it is one of the best means of recalling particular facts, regardless of how pleasant or unpleasant they might be for the viewer to perceive. In fact, the majority of photos intended in restoring something in the memory or imagination of a person can be called belated. By this I mean, that these photos are usually ‘postmortem’ ones. Their subjects are dead, and to be meaningful, such photos contain reasons of why people are dying or are already dead. In their turn, these ‘reasons’ raise the issue of the cause of what is happening on the picture, that is, photos are of causative-consecutive character.
However, it would not be correct to state that primarily photos aim at reminding the history. If it were so, it would not be a need for photographs, since narratives deal with such a task really well. And what photography does seek to do is to create a picture in the viewer’s mind. In this way photo makes people not only absorb information as it narratives do, but also bear it, this image, in mind, and take it to the surface again and again. As a result, photography possesses greater impact and is able to evoke a response rather effective. The spectacular example is utilizing narration along with photography in W. G. Sebald’s books. His goal was to make his elegies about spoilt lives and souls extremely memorable.
On the other hand, a very strange trend has appeared recently. It has become popular to illustrate violence on photos. It is now believed that by these means it is much easier to catch the viewer’s eye and to provoke thinking activity. The violence on photos though may give rise to violence in the reality. But despite this fact, photos depicting injustice are able to increase consciousness in people’s minds. For example, Ron Haviv’s photo of dying Muslim woman being kicked by a Serbian soldier has generated lots of buzz among society. And again it had few facts, but was about wider idea that war is horrible and cannot be acquitted.
According to Fred Ritchin (Source 1), documentary photography is concerned with topical issues of the society having no limitations of boarders. It deals with everything happening all over the world. The main function of the alternative photography is of thought-provocative nature. Being a rather spectacular example it can evoke society’s concerns and attract attention to some vital problems somewhere in the …