ABSTRACT
As a modern invention, photography has always been the subject of conflicting definitions, theories, and criticisms. The criticism that documentary photography was and sometimes is “colonial” is not without merit. Photography was and is mainly an affluent person’s game because photography requires money for equipment, supplies, and travel. Documentary photography has functioned as evidence, witness, and memory, however its role as evidence is being challenged both by our understanding of the true nature of photography and the questions raised by ever-changing digital environment. Documentary photography is, and always has been, a structurally ambiguous category because “documentary” modifies “photography.” Postmodern critics also question whether aesthetics should be a consideration for documentary photography of sobering subjects such as suffering or war. The 21st century can be golden age of documentary photography. Technology makes almost anything possible, and photographers haven’t begun to exploit virtual reality as a storytelling mode. Documentary practices are still filled with internal contradictions and conflicts between artifice and authenticity.
