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Recommended Date Listed: New to Old Price: Low to High Price: High to Low

With 143 limited edition and open edition prints to choose from, Saatchi Art offers high quality Documentary photography perfectly suited for your space. Read more

Introduction History of Documentary Photography Documentary Photography Techniques Artists Known For Documentary Photography

Documentary photography candidly captures real-life events as they occur--from the shocking and gritty to the contemplative and serene. These captivating, slice-of-life images make wonderful additions to any photography collection, and we’re proud to offer work in this style by some of the world’s most talented emerging photographers. Explore Saatchi Art’s international selection of documentary photography for sale today.

As technology improved since the invention of camera prototypes in the 1830s, photography became a more mobile medium, freed from the constraints of studio practices. Documentary photography, a style that aims to chronicle historical events as well as everyday life, emerged by the 1870s. Travel photographers documented far off locales to entice tourists, and governments often funded scientific photography projects to document major events and survey unexplored lands. Faster and easier reproduction methods spurred a shift from the photographers’ focus on archiving historical events to exploring aspects of city life, both good and bad, during the 1880s. Photographers set out to document urban and rural living conditions during the Great Depression, for example, to incite reform movements. During major wars and postwar eras, photographers also turned to social documentary photography, aiming to capture the social experience of those caught in battle and its effects. Documentary photography is strongly linked to photojournalistic practices, though many photographers today have put an artistic spin on the style, garnering the attention of galleries.

Documentary photography, though used to record events in history, is not always objective. The artistic style pulls from photojournalism but produces images that tell a specific side of a story. Social documentary photographers, for example, focus on depicting groups with socioeconomic and cultural similarities to encourage social reform. These images usually focus on working and living conditions, revealing issues like poverty, homelessness, neglect, and child labor. Some artists take a street photography approach to the documentary field, snapping candid images of people in public places to produce a mirror of the human condition. Documentary photographers today use a variety of photographic mediums, though the most common are DSLRs, ideal for rapidly producing quality images.

Jacob Riis, an early social documentary photographer, is known for focusing on poor living conditions in New York in images like “The Children of the Slums” (1892) to garner support for social reform. The United States’ Farm Security Administration commissioned photographers like Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, of “Migrant Mother” (1936) fame, to document living conditions during the Great Depression. Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” (1972) is an iconic documentary photograph, depicting the brutality of the Vietnam War. South African photographers Ernest Cole and David Goldblatt are recognized for documenting life in apartheid South Africa. Martha Rosler attacked the traditional documentary genre in her “The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems” (1974-1975), providing an alternative to the cliche photographic subjects usually associated with the Bowery in New York City. Other artists known for their documentary photography include Diane Arbus, Pieter Hugo, Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Don McCullin, Timothy O’Sullivan, George N. Barnard, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, John Vachon, Steve McCurry, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastiao Salgado, and fashion photographer Bill Cunningham.

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Original Conceptual Travel Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Travel Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Expressionism Outer Space Photography by Cody Choi

Original Art Deco People Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Body Photography by Cody Choi

Original Portraiture People Photography by Cody Choi

Original Portraiture People Photography by Cody Choi

Original Figurative Travel Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Portrait Photography by Cody Choi

Original Conceptual Portrait Photography by Cody Choi

Original Figurative Portrait Photography by Cody Choi

Original Figurative Children Photography by Cody Choi

Original Documentary Body Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Expressionism Fantasy Photography by Cody Choi

Original Portraiture Transportation Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Patterns Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Places Photography by Cody Choi

Original Conceptual World Culture Photography by Cody Choi

Original Documentary Fantasy Photography by Cody Choi

Original Portraiture Humor Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Expressionism Portrait Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Performing Arts Photography by Cody Choi

Original Conceptual World Culture Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Expressionism Body Photography by Cody Choi

Original Fine Art Architecture Photography by Valentina Schulte

Original Abstract Portrait Photography by Cody Choi

Original Fine Art Nature Photography by Ellen Averick Schor

Original Portraiture Children Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Women Photography by Cody Choi

Original Art Deco Body Photography by Cody Choi

Original Portraiture People Photography by Cody Choi

Photography, 19.7 W x 29.5 H x 0.1 D in

United Kingdom

$880

Original Abstract People Photography by Cody Choi

Original Conceptual Architecture Photography by Michael Miller

Original Documentary Performing Arts Photography by Cody Choi

Original Conceptual Children Photography by Valentina Schulte

Original Conceptual Horse Photography by Valentina Schulte

Original Portraiture Sport Photography by Cody Choi

AV Nº2 - Limited Edition of 10

Photography, 17.7 W x 11.8 H x 0.1 D in

United Kingdom

$870

Original Abstract Expressionism Architecture Photography by Michael Miller

Original Portraiture Travel Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Expressionism Pop Culture/Celebrity Photography by Cody Choi

Original Abstract Aerial Photography by Cody Choi

Ivy / Green / Takeover - Limited Edition 1 of 10

Photography, 19.7 W x 11 H x 0.1 D in

Valentina Schulte

Australia

$320

Original Contemporary Travel Photography by Cody Choi

Original Portraiture Portrait Photography by Cody Choi

Original Contemporary Architecture Photography by Cody Choi

Original Realism Architecture Photography by Valentina Schulte

Original Abstract Popular culture Photography by Cody Choi

Original Conceptual Architecture Photography by Michael Miller

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