Abstract
Paper is concerned with the transformations of the understanding of documentary photography in the historical and social context. Every photograph, as a recording, is by its nature documentary in the original meaning of the word, and so the term documentary photography could be considered as synonymous to photography itself.
Photography, taken, thanks to its qualities, primarily as an instrument of objective cognition, was from the beginning used to document social life. These photographs (i.e. of social life) began to be described as documentary for the authenticity and veracity of the photographic imaging.
The concept of documentary photography then gained specific meaning. In the 1970s the truthfulness of photography began to be questioned.
The understanding and acceptance of the fact that photography shows the world in its own way depending on the way of reception by the viewer then led to a new widely spread perception of the photo-documentary.