The Genius of Photography – BBC 2007
Another great BBC documentary series consisting of six episodes of one hour – The Genius of Photography from the BBC in 2007.
Through this series the story of photography is unfolded from first inception of the idea to make persistent pictures through to the modern context in 2006. In this context it’s worth remembering that the iPhone (certainly an upping of the mobile photography ante) was launched in June 2007. Any commentary towards the end of the series about the sheer mass of photography pales into insignificance against the reality of our experience in 2013. Photographs are ubiquitous, democratic, social and unchained from the camera.
That being said I really did enjoy this series because of the way they pulled the story together as an intelligent reading of facets across time. The photograph is many things to as many people and the idea of what photography is and why it exists has evolved dramatically over time.
The list of photographers covered and interviewed and subject matter covered is way beyond what I could hope to describe in these few sentences, so… maybe it’s time for you to watch those episodes:
- The Genius of Photography Fixing the Shadows – 59 mins
- The Genius of Photography Documents for Artists – 60 59mins
- The Genius of Photography Right Time Right Place – 59 mins
- The Genius of Photography Paper Movies – 59 mins]
- The Genius of Photography We are Family – 59 mins
- The Genius of Photography Snap Judgements – 59 mins
