Essentially Gavin picks up her theme with two propositions for the developing and changing nature of the genre of documentary photography. She states that 1. Photography has undergone change because of the digital age of photography and perhaps I would add the democratisation of it therefore 2. More women have entered the field thus giving a different interpretation to existing themes based upon a feminine outlook.
Gavin also covers the area of mixing genres, something of which is becoming increasingly practised and seen in the visual world of documentary photography. It seem that perhaps documentary is now open for reevaluation and discussion as to what it actually consists in and what its main aims are. As bright points out, many are now questioning the validity of supposed objective photography that is portrayed as factual evidence for a situation or reality undermining the apparent ‘truth’ of a situation. (Bright, 2005) [1]
Later in her discussion she also questions: ‘who is it for?’ and ‘where does it go?’ with reference to documentary photography. These questions are intriguing as increasingly there is less photojournalistic commissioning taking place in the traditional sense via printed publications. In conclusion, Gavin assesses the developing and changing tradition of documentary photography offering several reasons for these occurrences.
references
- Bright, S. Art photography now, (2005:157) Thames & Hudson