Documentary Photography for Richer Travelling

“After seeing these pictures you end up finally not knowing anymore whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin. ”

— Jack Kerouac, from the Introduction to “The Americans by Robert Frank

Documentary Photography can be a very vague and broad genre of photography and can step into various other styles; therefore the best way to define it is as a narrative approach. Documentary photography can be defined as a form of photography that can be used to chronicle events or environments that are relevant in terms of history. From big historical events to everyday situations, documentary photography can be applied. The great thing about this approach is that it can be used from amateur and fine art photographers, to professional photojournalists and various academic and historic purposes.

Being a traveler (experienced or not) offers a strong asset for any photographer due to the inherently different perspective we introduce inside any foreign environment we could get in touch with. Even though documentary photography has been strongly related to social issues, it can also help for complaint like the various photographs available that show the ongoing decay of our environment. The main difference between documentary photography and any other genre of photography, is that the act of documenting results in a broad spectrum of a…