1900-1920

The early 20th century saw the release of the Brownie Camera (Eastman and Kodak) which allowed the average household to take up photography as a hobby due to the affordable cost. After this point photography was beginning to be seen as more as an art form as the variety of photography widened to abstract prints, nudity and landscapes. Nudity was becoming more accepted in the art world and this had a big influence on the work created in the 20th century from the likes of Clarence White for example.

As the popularity for photography was increasing, photographers became more experimental with their work in the early 20th century and this resulted in photographs been seen as a document and the start of
documentary photography.
Eugene Atget is a documentary photographer from the early 20th century who created work that still influences photographers today




The photograph below was taken by photographer Eugene Atget, although the image is from 1910 and is one of the earliest photographs from the documentary genre, it is still to the standard produced today and has all the main elements that a documentary photograph still consists of in this day and age.
The image is a candid shot of a police officer as he is not looking into the camera and doesn't seem aware or disturbed by the camera.
The image shows the man walking past a building which is a mythical creatures open mouth, the image has quite a humorous twist because of this, we still see humour in the documentary photography for example the work of Matin Parr; a documentary photographer who is known for his ironic or humorous shots.
The image has a lot of detail because of the sharp focus and the high contrast which makes the  image appear more real and like a document.