Surveyors and Surveyed

This text deals with the history of photography, specifically documentary photography, as a social phenomena. Almost immediately following its invention, the photograph was being used as a documentary tool, exposing people to faraway places and recording everyday life. Initially, the photographic medium was seen as a purely objective transcription of reality, but it soon became clear that it was the selective eye of the photographer, not the apparent reality of the scene, that had the greatest impact on the final image.
It is through this lens that "Surveyors and Surveyed" gives its history of the photograph as a documentary tool, moving through several areas of subject matter that typically define the documentary genre (Travel, War, Street, etc.). It describes the trend toward, and subsequent commercial market for, photographs of alien peoples and worlds that were prevalent throughout the early years of photography, and goes on to describe the deep impact photography had on public perception of war in the 1940's through 60's.
The text does, however, attempt to make a distinction between travel and war photography, and true documentary, citing a difference in attitude as the main distinction. Where these genres are concerned primarily with the unfamiliar, truly powerful documentary pieces tend to look inward, casting new light on the familiar and commonplace, redefining the viewer's perception of his own reality.