Documentary Photography

The text deals with documentary photography as an autonomous practice. The starting axiom for any further deliberations states, that photographic documentary is based on effort to eliminate any possible manipulation. This manipulation is usually understood as some mechanical intervention in the otherwise automatic process. If, however, the role of a photographer is reflected, we understand the manipulation as an ethical rather than a mechanical problem. The meaning of photography is always viewed within certain cultural context. A solitary photograph is always polysemic and opened to a manipulative ideological abuse. Photographic documentary works with a collection of photographs, thus providing more complicated but also more exact message. This is how possible manipulation has to be considered. The authorship must be understood as responsibility for the photographic message. The authorship is not only the fact of taking the pictures but also their selection. Brief historical excursion establishes an approach to the search for the genealogy of a documentary. It also concerns the ?language? of photography and its ability to carry certain meanings. Journalistic and documentary photography emerged as a single practice. Photographic documentary as we know it got its autonomy by separating itself from journalism. The place of documentary photography vis-à-vis art and journalism is discussed. . The last part concerns documentary photography as a stream of various tendencies and approaches. It suggests instruments to reflect this diversity. It also deals with the traditional document in relation to practices that attempt to liberalize the concept of documentary photography and allow in tendencies that are based upon manipulation of the photographic meaning. Documentary photography is an authentic reflection of the world, based on the author´s responsibility for his message. That is the fundamental principle: Documentary photograph has to be judged not only in aesthetic terms but also by its truthfulness