Ostrava's heavy industry has been a visually dominant element of the city since the end of the 19th century. Since the 1960s, industrial motifs have become a frequent subject of humanist-oriented documentary photographs by both local photographers and occasional visitors. The text presents examples of official ideological documentary photography, but focuses primarily on subjective photographs by independent authors. Lists the most important representatives of documentary photography in Ostrava. While in the Czechoslovak years of totalitarianism these photographic authorial reflections of Ostrava were only very limited in publication, after the fall of totalitarianism photographers gained greater freedom to publish their works. Today, we can perceive the reference to the breathtaking atmosphere of changes in Ostrava from the sixties to the present day in many art monographs, photographic exhibitions and other media.