1940's and 1950's

Documentary photography in World War II

In the 1930's documentary photography became a photographic genre and popular to photographers all over the world. World War II began in 1939 and ended around 1945 photographers documented this war which we use as historic documents today.

Photographers began to take risks when photographing the war by putting themselves on the front line and battlefields in order to document soilders and places effected and under target in the war.

W. Eugene Smith was known for his shocking and eye opening documentary images of the World War II his pictures rang from the battlefields to the Blitz in London. He has a collection of magnum images that document the soilders from close up and give us a inside look into the trenches.