Street Photography, Documentary Photography and Photojournalism

Street Photography, Documentary Photography and Photojournalism ... These three terms often go together, but there are subtle differences ... which I think is difficult to explain or pinpoint ... but I guess is understood by most photographers ... The difference lies in the intent or objective of photographs ...

Street Photography is photography at public places ... and usually have people and is mostly candid ... capturing "slice of life" is the most used phrase with street photography ...

Documentary Photography is defined in almost the same manner [as street photography] ... It is an objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subjectmatter and most often includes pictures of people. However the attempt is to understand a particular subject matter so it's not as random as street photography.

Photojournalism ... is to tell news through images. The photos have meaning in the context of events ... and is usually combined with other news element to give the context of the imagery ...

Photojournalism works within the same ethical approaches to objectivity that are applied by other journalists ... In American they are guided by NAAP [National Press photographers Association] ... in Britain by the BPPA [British Press Photographers Association] ... Different countries have their own ethical guidelines ...

Though photography became popular in the 1840-50's; photojournalism evolved only in the 1880's ...
# Printing presses could only publish from engravings until the 1880s. Early news photographs required that photos be re-interpreted by an engraver before they could be published.
# On March 4, 1880, The Daily Graphic [New York] published the first halftone [rather than engraved] reproduction of a news photograph ...
# However the "golden age" of photojournalism is the period 1930s–1950s, when some magazines built their huge readerships and reputations largely on their use of photography ... This period photographers such as Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and W. Eugene Smith became well-known names.


Here's a read on Documentary Photography and Photojournalism ...
"Documentary Practice: Stephen Ferry - Rich Potosí", click here.
An excerpt:
" So what then are the marks that define work as documentary? Perhaps fundamentally it involves thinking in terms of a project rather than in terms of simply photographing a situation. Then it means a commitment to that project in terms of time; where a photojournalist may jet in to a situation, take his pictures and be on the plane out in a matter or hours or a few days, the documentary approach may take weeks or months or years and often involve repeated visits. There is possibly a difference in the direction and approach; the photojournalist works to meet an editor's demands or because they believe the work will sell while the documentary photographer works because he or she considers the project important. Obviously no project can work without some source of finance, but for the documentary photographer this is enabling rather than determining the work. Finally there is perhaps a seriousness of purpose; photojournalism is often about trivia and celebrity froth whereas documentary tends to be more analytic and about more important matters. "