Answer the following question in 3-4 complete sentences. Explain the affect(s) photography has had on documenting history and the evolution of Social Documentation. Name at least 2 well-known photographers who are famed for their examples of social documentation.

Photography first came around during the Civil War Era. The first cameras were used to bring photos of war back to the home front and let citizens see the horror war has to bring. As time progressed photography became a way to get people's attention onto certain important issues. Take for example mukrakers during the Progressive Era photographed people living in slums and tenements and even took street photography. In doing so these photos were able to bring awareness to the problems many people faced. Today photography has not only allowed people to bring about social change but it is also mainly used to tell a story about their daily lives. It has become a form of expression as opposed to the tool it once was. Some photographers famous for their social documentation would be Jacob Riis who lived during the Progressive Era and took startling images of the impoverished in New York. A more modern example would be Steve Mccurry who photographed stunning photos from the front in Afghanistan and letting people stop to think about what they are seeing.

Photography had a profound impact on history because it was a way to take an authentic visual testimony about vital social issues that history talks about. What history talks about, photography shows. It is one thing to write about wars, for example, and it's a totally different thing to take a photo of the battlefield and allow thousands of people to really see what is happening there. The social documentary photography is always socially engaged. One of the earliest and most notable examples is Jacob Riis' "How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York" (1890). It was a publication that documented the lives of New York's poorest social class - immigrant workers. Another example would be the famous, Pulitzer-winning photo "Napalm Girl" taken by Nick Ut, in the Vietnam war. Hundreds of pages of text wouldn't have been able to capture the destructive force of war in such a compelling way as this photo did.

the german artist, architect, and designer, peter behrens