limited to an informative function. As the name
indicates, photojournalistic images are made to ful-
fill the visual needs of the news, and are severely
restricted by time and space restraints. Photojourn-
alists tend to work under short deadlines, having
little opportunity to become familiar with, never
mind truly understand, their subject matter, and
as the flow of information has radically increased
with the advent of the internet, these deadlines are
virtually instantaneous, with photojournalists
downloading images almost literally as they are
shot. Documentarians typically spend a great deal
of time, even when commissioned, methodically
researching, observing, and photographing the
chosen theme in order to achieve an in-depth depic-
tion. As FSA Chief Roy Stryker said, ‘‘the job is to
know enough about the subject matter to find its
significance in itself and in relation to its surround-
ings, its time, and its function.’’
Another difference is that photojournalism al-
ways relies on words, and often presents only one
image that is subjectively judged to best summarize
the story. When a photo-essay is presented, its story-
telling approach dictates the choice of photographs
to tell the best story-in-pictures, but not necessarily
the most accurate or in-depth story on the topic.
Documentarians’ work is not necessarily accompa-
nied by text or captions, being generally presented as
lengthy series. This does not mean, however, that
individual photographers cannot be simultaneously
photojournalist and documentarian. An example is
W. Eugene Smith. Expected to take only weeks, his
Life magazine assignmentSpanish Village (1951)
took several months to complete and resulted in a
revolutionary work as it eliminated the traditional
subordination of pictures to words.
Despite its lack of economic viability in the post-
war era, documentary photography continued to
evolve in America and around the world. Disturbed
by growing Americanization, Latin American
photographers directed their creativity towards the
construction of a visual identity and the exposure of
social injustices. Cuban Rau ́l Colares, for example,
documented the evolution of the 1959 Cuban Revo-
lution. A great number of photographers focused on
the indigenous peoples of South America, like Bra-
zilian Claudia Andujar who documented the Karaja ́
people in the 1950s and began in the 1970s her
Yanomami project. Spanish-born Pedro Mayer and
Mexican Graciela Iturbide, among others, photo-
graphed Mexican folk rituals and culture, respec-
tively, in the 1960s, and in the 1970s to 1980s.
Japanese photographers, as well, were question-
ing their identity after defeat in the war. Themes
related to devastation surfaced in works such as
Shomei Tomatsu’s and Ken Domon’sHiroshima-
Nagasaki Document(1961). Influenced by Harry
Callahan, the 1960s street photographs of the
American-naturalized-Japanese Yasuhiro Ishimoto
transmit the sensation of self-delusion and frivo-
lousness. In Africa, the cameras were often pointed
toward political causes. South African Ernest Cole
and Peter Magubane exhaustively documented the
struggles of apartheid and Ricardo Rangel, from
Mozambique, documented Maputo’s nightlife dur-
ing guerrilla resistance against colonization in the
1960s. In the same decade, Czech photographer
Josef Koudelka composed a major documentary
on the gypsies of Slovakia.
One of the best-known and highly influential post-
war documentary projects, Robert Frank’s The
Americans, had no overt political or social aspira-
tion. It was amassed by the Swiss-born Frank who
traversed the United States documenting various
mundane aspects of American society living off a
Guggenheim Fellowship he’d received in 1955. The
‘‘American dream,’’ which had been institutionalized
during immediate postwar years as a reward for the
sacrifices of World War II and used in advertising
and other cultural messages to fuel the engines of
postwar economic recovery, was not depicted posi-
tively. Frank’s images, which featured harsh light-
ing and scenes dense with grain and evidence of
their making, also harshly pointed out a nation
alienated in its own rampant consumerism. His
resulting book,The Americans(1958), was shock-
ing to critics and the American public alike and
received an overwhelming negative response. Yet
his snapshot aesthetic and critical vision opened a
new path for younger generations.
William Klein’s 1954–1955Life is Good and Good
for You in New York (1956) was another highly
influential private documentary project that found
little initial support. An expatriate American living
in France with a background in painting, Klein
returned to his homeland and started frenetic cam-
erawork throughout the streets of Manhattan. Dis-
regarding the traditional ideals of sharpness,
brightness, and composition, Klein produced highly
contrasted and grainy images, with obvious blurring
due to movement, and radical cropping in his
attempt to represent the anxieties of modernity.
Although Klein’s achievement was recognized in
Europe, it took a very long time for it to be appre-
ciated in America. In different ways, Frank and
Klein launched a more subjective and corrosive man-
ner of depicting society that remains a powerful force
in both documentary and fine-arts photography.
The 1960s was the decade during which documen-
tary photography regained strength and achieved aDOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY