40 MOVIES ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY EVERY PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD WATCH

[Schewe]

Saw this and thought, well LuLa has a lot of photographers, so why not? I've seen quite a few of them but some of them like Pecker is a film I've never seen but anything with  John Waters as writer/director has got to be, uh, unusual :~)



40 MOVIES ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY EVERY PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD WATCH

Film making and photography go hand-in-hand. In film making, the art of cinematography is lost with photography. The skill to present moving images in such postcard-like material is in itself a direct descendant of the art of still-photography. If a photographer truly wants to improve his or her craft, they need to study how filmmakers and cinematographers captures moving images on the screen. Just as important is for still photographers to watch films that depict he art of photography through Hollywood’s eye and also visit the stories of celebrated photographers through documentaries.

Here are 40 notable movies about photography every photographer should watch… in no particular order.

Another I want to watch is Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)

Nicole Kidman stars in this biopic about the legendary American photographer Diane “Fur” Arbus. The film shows how a lonely and shy housewife in New York set out a journey into the world of photography shooting images of people that stand outside the confines of society.

Of course, almost every aspiring fashion photographer probably saw Blow-Up (1966)

a 60’s film with a cult following status, this film follows Thomas a fashion photographer played by David Hemmings, who discovers he accidentally captured a murder on film in the background of one of the images while he’s developing it in the darkroom.

Many of the films are documentaries about well known photographers like; James Nachtwey, Annie Leibovitz, Cindy Sherman, Helmut Newton, Paul Strand, André Kertesz, Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Alfred Stieglitz and Gordon Parks.

Two films I've seen recently didn't make the list are Harry Benson: Shoot First (2016) and Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016). I recommend both although I really loved the Benson film because Harry is both really, really good and rather funny!

[JNB_Rare]

Nicole Kidman stars in this biopic about the legendary American photographer Diane “Fur” Arbus. The film shows how a lonely and shy housewife in New York set out a journey into the world of photography shooting images of people that stand outside the confines of society.

Here's an interesting take on Diane Arbus, from one of her subjects – Germaine Greer: Wrestling with Diane Arbus

[Robert Roaldi]

There's a very good older British film Secrets and Lies, interesting for its own sake, in which one of the main characters runs a neighbourhood photo studio. The scenes in the photo studio make up a small part of the film and plot, but they are a treat to watch.

[pcgpcg]

Thanks for this. Surprising that "The Salt of the Earth" was not included.

[mecrox]

Saul Leiter, Bill Cunningham, Jane Bown - documentaries on all of them can be found if one checks Apple, Amazon, YouTube et al.

[B-Ark]

Finding Vivian Maier
Vivian Maier - BBC documentary
Dorothea Lange - Grab a Hunk of Lightning
Salt - Australian documentary

[tom b]

Little Murders.

"Patsy Newquist is a 27-year-old interior designer who lives in a New York City rife with street crime, noise, obscene phone calls, power blackouts and unsolved homicides. When she sees a defenseless man being attacked by street thugs, she intervenes, but is surprised when the passive victim doesn't even bother to thank her. She ends up attracted to the man, Alfred Chamberlain, a photographer, but finds that he is emotionally vacant, barely able to feel pain or pleasure. He permits muggers to beat him up until they get tired and go away.

Cheers,

[pearlstreet]

Thanks Jeff for posting this!

Here's one I love about Julius Shulman  -  https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Acoustics-Modernism-Julius-Shulman/dp/B00366BBU8

[Telecaster]

I liked the Arbus film with Nicole Kidman. Hard to believe it came out over a decade ago. Which means the Arbus exhibit at the Met in NYC was 12 years ago. Acckk! The character Downey Jr. plays in the film stretches if not breaks credulity, though I guess he's intended to be an extreme example of the kind of person Arbus was fascinated by.

Michael Powell's Peeping Tom should be on the list, no? 

-Dave-

[jwstl]

Thanks for posting. There are some great films on the list but Harrison's Flowers isn't one of them. I found it subpar in nearly ever category that could or would make a good film. Just my opinion of course.