Types of Photography

Many types of photography are created for personal, historical or social contexts.  The examples provided represent these major types of photography.

·         Aesthetics: Many photographs were created for personal reasons and later provided artistic values.

·         Pictorial Photographs:  These types of photographs represent a time of creativity for photographers where
           photographic techniques advanced in technology.

·         Straight Photography: 1920’s and 1930’s This type of photography created portraits of the real world
           without manipulation of photographic processes and the final product.

·         Documentary Photographs: These photographs were created to provide evidence of something that existed
           or provided evidence of a particular event in order to record history.

·         Photojournalism:  1930’s These kinds of photographs were closely associated with newspapers and
           documentation of news stories.  Photojournalism had a major influence upon societal thinking and reaction.

·         Amateur Photographs: 1880-present These types of photography helped record history from the earliest 
           times and newer technology made photography easier to create by ordinary people.

Ritzenthaler, M. L., G. J. Munoff, M. S. Long (1984) Archives and manuscripts: Administration of Photographic Collections.  Society of American Archivists.  Chicago, Illinois.