National Library of Australia's exhibition, Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now, celebrates 50 years of Australian life through documentary photos

Or at least a small fraction of it. With more than 1 million images in its collection, the National Library has drawn on 125 to create Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now, an exhibition that examines Australian life through images.

"They say a picture paints 1000 words, but from this survey of images ... a single word comes to mind for me, and that is change," Dr Ayres said.

"We've undergone huge social changes in the last 50 years and this exhibition is a brilliant way for us to showcase the changing lives and lived experiences of those in different communities."

There's no denying that the past five decades have seen an advancement in the technology surrounding photography. And the exhibition tracks that change from analogue to digital, and film to Instagram.

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But for curator Matthew Jones - who looked at tens of thousands of images in preparation for the exhibition - it was the changes to the relationships between sitters and photographers, as well as the overall approach to photography that surprised him.

"When I looked at a lot of earlier photos initially ... it always felt like the subject was distant, but there was a warmth between some of the subjects and the way they were reacting to the camera in the later photos, which I thought was quite interesting," he said.

"Photographers were changing the way that they were interacting with their subjects and trying to collaborate with them more.

"I think it was a general practice thing in the 70s when people started going to photography schools and art schools, they were made more aware of the subjective nature of photography."

Viewfinder offers a selection of works from some of the country's best photographers, whether that's Peter Dombrovskis' picture of the Tasmanian wilderness, photographs of Chinese and gay communities by William Yang, or an image of Melbourne Cup fashion history from Rennie Ellis.

For multi-award winner Dave Tacon, who has four works in the exhibition, photography has been a chance to shine light on elements of life that is can be forgotten about.

"It's been a passport to a really interesting life," he said.

"It's not like I'm driving around with a Bentley or anything. I'm not sure I'd even recommend a life as a freelance photographer because it's a pretty precarious existence. But I've seen experience things that have been a real privilege."

Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now is at the National Library of Australia from September 16 to March 13.

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