#5 Borders of Documentary
In the third year of the existence of Fotograf Magazine we decided to tackle the delicate subject of the “documentary” as our contribution to the as yet non-existent debate regarding the “direction of contemporary documentary photography”. However, while the classical figures of documentary photography mainly focused on traditional humanist themes, documenting unguarded moments in street scenes, moving or funny, or imaginatively photographed human relations, it seems as though today this area has suddenly become empty, or rather, it seems that all has already been done and further repetitions merely trivialize the genre.
For more than a decade there have been efforts in contemporary photography to use the documentary method to express a personal concept, to play with it within the framework of staged documentary, or on the other hand, to renounce the elements of compositional or situational aesthetics, renouncing what is now almost pejoratively called artistic photography, instead to pursue personal record, a sort of visual diary, featuring photographs which deliberately depart from aesthetic criteria. It seems that in the last decade, much has changed also in the understanding of the medium of photography as such.
#43 collecting — Intro
Collecting – special 20th anniversary issue

This edition departs from our series of thematic issues, as it is a celebration of the magazine’s twentieth birthday. As is usually the case with birthday celebrations (particularly such important ones), memories of the past intersect with the future…
Read more#43 collecting — Topic
The Infinity of Lists

An incomplete calendarium of Czech photography 2002–2022
Even though history is not obedient and does not unfold from a given date to another, instead passing by in an unbroken continuum, it is our habit to single out various epochs and phases…
Read more#43 collecting — Wanted
Adam Evans

The digital collage Hledání mentefaktu (Finding the Mentefact, 2018) was created as an intuitive illustration for a performative research expedition at the site of a former landfill where a friend and I were staying…
Read moreTaste Fotograf #40
#43 collecting — Collecting special
The Beginner Collector’s Guide to Photography

Over the past fifty years, the photography market has seen significant development and growth. The rarest photographs sell at auctions for prices on a par with major works of contemporary art…
Read more#43 collecting — Interview
Interview with Sven Eisenhut, the Director of Photo Basel

In mid-June 2022, I visited Photo Basel, a charming boutique fair dedicated to photography that takes place during the Art Basel week. It is a stop worth making as the fair’s approach is different in comparison to others…
Read moreContent
- ––– Profiles
- Zbigniew Libera
- Beth Block
- Paula Miklosevic
- ––– Theory
- Casablanca
- Narration in the age of databases: between fiction and documentary
- Mannequins in a favorable light
- ––– Events
- Paris photo 2004 & Mois de la photo v Paříži
- The fourteenth annual month of photography in bratislava
- ––– Reviews
- Vicious Circles
- Toman's Panoramas
- Sudek's most region, according to Antonín Dufek
- Galerie Vu´ in Prague
- Henryk Ross: Lódź ghetto album
- Village- a catalogue by Lukáš Jasanský and Martin Polák
- Double Skála
- ––– History
- Déja vu
- ––– Portfolios
- Andreas Weinand
- Josef Moucha
- Susan Lipper
- John Trotter
- Martin Parr
- Graciela Iturbide
- Jiří Hanke
- ––– Tendencies
- Filip Láb & Bára Mrázková
- Alastair Levy
- Lucia Nimcová
- Tomáš Ludvík
- Ivars Gravlejs
- Ondřej Přibyl
- Tomáš Souček
Archive
- #42 food
- #41 postdigital photography
- #40 earthlings
- #39 delight, pain
- #38 death, when you think about it
- #37 uneven ground
- #36 new utopias
- #35 living with humans
- #34 archaeology of euphoria
- #33 investigation
- #32 Non-work
- #31 Body
- #30 Eye In The Sky
- #29 Contemplation
- #28 Cultura / Natura
- #27 Cars
- #26 Documentary Strategies
- #25 Popular Music
- #24 Seeing Is Believing
- #23 Artificial Worlds
- #22 Image and Text
- #21 On Photography
- #20 Public Art
- #19 Film
- #18 80'
- #17 Amateur Photography
- #16 Photography and Painting
- #15 Prague
- #14 Commerce
- #13 Family
- #12 Reconstruction
- #11 Performance
- #10 Eroticon
- #9 Architecture
- #8 Landscape
- #7 New Staged Photography
- #6 The Recycle Image
- #5 Borders Of Documentary
- #4 Intimacy
- #3 Transforming Of Symbol
- #2 Collective Authorship
- #1 Face