There are plenty of photography documentaries available online which span different genres, period in time and subject and I enjoy it when I find relevant, feature length and interesting films, which help to educate as a change from books or blogs.
When I’ve finished watching a documentary I’ve particularly enjoyed, I’ll update this post with a link to the video. (There’s a twitter thread too). As of 28th August there’s 15 videos around 10 hours.
If you know people who aren’t into photography as much you are, and would like to introduce them to your passion, you could send them your favourite from this list as an introduction to the Photograph as Art.
Born from Science and Art, what follows are stories of imagination, of playing with light and technology or changing worlds and societies. Without photographs, would we see the struggles of marginalized people, perceived by the general populace as ugly, outcast or irrelevant?
Without photography, how would we illustrate issues around death, sex, mental health, drugs, sexuality and abuse?
Do you simply enjoy pictures or are you intrigued at, or maybe excited at the reasons behind why people are compelled to create and share photographs? Are you genuinely interested and surprised with other peoples work?
We take photographs, we read about photographs, we read about people taking and reading about photographs and we want to know and understand more about photographs. How very meta.
Take some time out from your reading, delve into these documentaries instead. These videos highlight our interest, demonstrate why we enjoy what we do, explores the craftsmanship of some of the great photographers while showing how diverse our photography community is.
What’s missing? Do you have a favourite? Is it online? – Why should we watch it? – Please let us know!
Ren Hang: The Art of Taboo
Gregory Crewdson’s Photography Capturing a Movie Frame
William Eggleston Documentary: In The Real World
The Many Lives of William Klein (2012)
Joel Meyerowitz 1981 Street Photography
“Reely and Truly” – A Film By Tyrone Lebon
A Day in The Life of Andy Warhol
Robert Mapplethorpe
Vile Bodies Part 1 – Naked
The Wizard of Photography (George Eastman ‘the Man who created Kodak’ documentary). Part 1 below, be sure to watch Part 2 and Part 3
More?
- The Problem with Ren Hang’s photo book
- Without My Eye
- Why Photography?
- My life is about to change
- Photographers Interview
- Photographer’s Interview Part II
- Photographs which should have been.
Find me online:
- Portfolio: TomRobson.com
- Twitter: @tjrfoto
- Instagram: tjrfoto
Tom Robson 