
Photo by Chelsea Marie Hicks/Flickr
This is the longest list ever collecting documentaries about the world of photography. However it is still incomplete. If you know anything not yet on the list, please send it to me to add to it!
Majority of this list of a collection of documentaries about photography has been originally published by PetaPixel in English. I only copied the most of them from their list, but I wanted to add some links for my readers not yet included in the original version. First of all the posts I wrote about some of these documentaries I already wrote about on my blog (either on the Hungarian or in the English version of it too) and I also wanted to add some Hungarian documentaries too to the collection. Of course I would be happy to include any new suggestions from visitors so don’t hesitate to send me if you have something to add.
Some stories mentioned on my blog before
- Get to know Hungarian nature photographers <- ÚJ
- The Invisible Wildlife Photographer
- Sharks in My Viewfinder
- Rolyaty Closeup
- With a Still Camera from “That World”
- From Don-curve to Graz – Index
- Last Roll of Kodachrome – National Geographic
- Double Exposure – CBS 60 Minutes <-ÚJ
- War Photographer
- Finding Vivian Maier
- Bang Bang Club (not a docu, drama based on a true story)
Documentaries in English
- 1948, The Photographer – YouTube
- 1957, Ansel Adams, Photographer – YouTube
- 1972, Going Where I’ve Never Been The Photography of Diane Arbus – YouTube
- 1973, The Decisive Moment – YouTube
- 1983, Shadows from Light
- 1984, America and Lewis Hine
- 1986, Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank – YouTube
- 1986, Karsh: The Searching Eye
- 1989, Creativity with Bill Moyers: The Photographer’s Eye – YouTube Clip
- 1989, Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge – YouTube
- 1989, Strand, Under the Dark Cloth – YouTube
- 1989, W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult – YouTube
- 1993, Sebastião Salgado: Looking Back at You
- 1994, A Great Day In Harlem – YouTube
- 1995, Lee Miller: Through the Mirror
- 1995, Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell – YouTube
- 1995, Through the Lens
- 1996, Dreamgirls: The photography of Guy Bourdin – Dailymotion
- 1996, Double Exposure – CBS 60 Minutes
- 1996, Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light – YouTube
- 1998, Dying to Tell the Story
- 1998, National Geographic: The Photographers
- 1999, Magnum Photos: The Changing of a Myth – Vimeo
- 1999, Moments of Impact: Stories of Pulitzer Prize Photographs
- 2000, Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks – Netflix/YouTube
- 2000, Naked States
- 2001, Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye – YouTube
- 2001, Henri Cartier-Bresson: L’amour Tout Court (Just Plain Love) – YouTube
- 2001, Jazz Seen: The Life and Times of William Claxton
- 2001, Near Equal Daido Moriyama – YouTube
- 2001, War Photographer
- 2002, Gursky World – Vimeo
- 2002, The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia
- 2003, Ansel Adams, American Experience
- 2003, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye
- 2003, Martin Parr – De Magie van het Moment – YouTube
- 2003, Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones – Vimeo
- 2003, Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time – YouTube
- 2003, Robert Capa In Love and War – YouTube
- 2003, The Adventure Of Photography – YouTube
- 2003, The Colourful Mr Eggleston – YouTube
- 2003, The World According To Martin Parr – YouTube
- 2004, Arakimentari (Bill Bartlett)
- 2004, Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids
- 2004, The War in Iraq: Through Photographers’ Eyes – Online
- 2004, Thinking XXX
- 2005, Leaving Home, Coming Home A Portrait of Robert Frank
- 2005, What Remains – Sally Mann
- 2005, William Eggleston in the Real World
- 2006, Annie Leibovitz Life Through A Lens
- 2006, Manufactured Landscapes
- 2006, …More Than 1000 Words
- 2006, Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project
- 2007, At Close Range With National Geographic
- 2007, Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe
- 2007, Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston & Charis Wilson
- 2007, Helmut by June
- 2007, Michael Kenna’s Hokkaido – Stream
- 2007, Shadow of the House
- 2008, An Unlikely Weapon
- 2008, Blood Trail: Shooting Robert King
- 2008, In Harm’s Way – War Photographers – YouTube
- 2008, Visual Acoustics The Modernism of Julius Schulman
- 2009, Erwin Olaf, on Beauty and Fall – Vimeo
- 2009, Japan in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn
- 2009, Karsh Is History
- 2009, Salt
- 2009, Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn
- 2009, The Cambodian Room – Situations with Antoine D’Agata
- 2010, Bill Cunningham New York
- 2010, Marwencol
- 2010, Moonbug
- 2010, Smash His Camera
- 2010, South Africa in Pictures – Vimeo
- 2010, Teenage Paparazzo
- 2010, The Man Who Shot The 60s – YouTube
- 2010, The Pirelli Calendar Saga
- 2010, The President’s Photographer – PBS
- 2010, The Weird Adventures of Eadweard Muybridge
- 2010, The Woodmans – Netflix
- 2010, Waste Land
- 2011, America in Pictures- The Story of Life Magazine – Vimeo
- 2011, Artists and Alchemists
- 2011, Bert Stern: Original Madman
- 2011, Last Days of the Arctic
- 2011, Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen
- 2011, Sam Abell – The Life of a Photograph – YouTube
- 2011, Shooting the Hollywood Stars – Vimeo
- 2012, Anton Corbijn Inside Out – YouTube
- 2012, Deadline Every Second
- 2012, Chasing Ice
- 2012, Gregory Crewdson Brief Encounters
- 2012, In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter
- 2012, McCullin
- 2012, No Worries – Martin Parr – YouTube
- 2012, The Many Lives of William Klein – YouTube
- 2013, Everybody Street
- 2013, Eye on the Sixties: The Iconic Photography of Rowland Scherman
- 2013, Vivian Maier Who Took Nanny’s Pictures – YouTube
- 2013, Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington
Series
- 1983, BBC’s Master Photographers
- 1988, Contacts, Vol. 1 The Great Tradition of Photojournalism
- 1992, Contacts, Vol. 2 The Renewal of Contemporary Photography
- 1997, Decisive Moments – The Photographs That Made History
- 1999, American Photography: A Century of Images
- 2001, Contacts, Vol. 3 Conceptual Photography
- 2007, Edwardians in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn
- 2007, The Genius Of Photography
- 2012, Capture with Mark Seliger (RSRV)
- 2012, Picture Perfect (Vice)
- 2012, Witness (HBO)
Films By Photographers
- 1966, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo – Film by William Klein
- 1993, Don Van Vliet: ‘Some Yo-Yo Stuff’ – Vimeo – Documentary by Anton Corbijn
- 1999, Think of England – YouTube – Documentary by Martin Parr
- 2005, Stranded in Canton – Online – Documentary by William J. Eggleston
- 2007, Control – Film by Anton Corbijn
- 2010, Despair – Online – Film by Alex Prager
- 2010, Restrepo – Documentary by Tim Hetherington
- 2010, The American – Film by Anton Corbijn
- 2010, The Forgotten Space – Documentary by Allan Sekula
- 2011, Teddy Gray’s Sweet Factory – YouTube – Documentary by Martin Parr
Related
- 1972, Ways of Seeing (Art Appreciation)
- 1992, Visions of Light – The Art of Cinematography (Cinematography)
- 2000, Killing Us Softly 3 Advertisings Image of Women (Advertising Industry)
- 2001, Stanley Kubrick – A Life In Pictures (Film Industry)
- 2003, Los Angeles Plays Itself (Film Industry)
- 2004, Light Fantastic – YouTube (Light)
- 2009, The September Issue (Fashion Industry)
- 2010, How to Make a Book with Steidl (Photo Books)
- 2011, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (Fashion Industry)
- 2011, Under Fire: Journalists in Combat (War Journalism)
- 2011, The Story of Film: An Odyssey – Netflix (Film History)
- 2012, Side by Side (Film Industry)
Bonus
- Bring Your Own Doc: A conversation with director Jeff Malmberg about Marwencol –YouTube
- Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography 2012 – YouTube
- Henri Cartier-Bresson Interviewed by Charlie Rose – YouTube
- Inside Media: The President’s Photographer – YouTube
- James Nares – STREET – Lecture – Vimeo
- Joel Meyerowitz 1981 Street Photography Program – YouTube
- Magnum Photos – Earthlings by Richard Kalvar – YouTube
- Magnum Photos – Personal Best by Elliott Erwitt – YouTube
- Mark Feeney: “Four Photographers on Three Wheels: William Eggleston’s Tricycle and Before” – YouTube
- Peter Fraser 2011 talk on his work and workshop assignment – Vimeo
- Sarah Moon is a Master of Photography (from Contacts) – YouTube
Photo found in PetaPixel post is titled Be Kind Rewind film reel taken by Chelsea Marie Hicks.
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