As a photographer myself I like to watch movies about photographers. First of all documentaries which are widely spread and can be seen on television more then you realize. All you have to do is pay attention to the news, search in online TV programs for the word “Photo” and read photo-blogs who mention these broadcastings. Movies (Drama) about photographers are not that widely spread. There are a lot of films in which the main character is a photographer but mostly these films aren’t about photography at all. They use this profession as a romantic background for the characters. The short list of films I’m about to present is my personal and favorite choice and probably not complete. But these films are about photographers who do real photography. And I do recommend seeing them!
Under Fire: Director: Roger Spottiswoode.
Nicaragua 1979: Star photographer Russel Price covers the civil war against president Somoza. Facing the cruel fighting – people versus army – it’s often hard for him to stay neutral. When the Guerillas have him take a picture of the leader Rafael, who’s believed to be dead, he gets drawn into the happenings. Together with his reporter friends Claire and Alex he has to hide from the army.
Blow Up: Director: Michelangelo Antonioni.
Blowup (also rendered as Blow-Up) is an award-winning 1966 British-Italian art film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and was that director’s first English language film. It tells the story of a photographer’s involvement with a murder case. The film was inspired by the short story “Las Babas del Diablo” by Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar, and by the work, habits, and mannerisms of Swinging London photographer David Bailey.
Pecker: Director: John Waters.
In Baltimore, amateur photographer Pecker takes pictures of his friends and family, which he exhibits in the fast-food store where he works. Glamorous female art-dealer Rorey Wheeler stumbles upon Pecker’s work, and whisks him off to New York City. After an exhibition in a gallery, Pecker is fêted as a naïve genius while his subjects are sneered at by the metropolis’ art cognoscenti.
Frankie’s House: TV series: Director: Peter Fisk.
In 1964 in Laos, young Tim Page discovers his vocation as a photojournalist and is given a job, a camera, and a trip to Vietnam. There, he learns the ropes, learns about the war first in Saigon, and then “in country” on patrol with troops. He and his colleagues, including the sons of Errol Flynn and John Steinbeck, capture the war in pictures, recover from their wounds, swap stories, battle censorship, and support each other between the explosions at the brothel run by Tranh Ki: “Frankie’s House”.
Harrison’s Flowers: Director: Elie Chouraqui.
Harrison Lloyd is a Pulitzer-winning photojournalist. His wife and family are making it hard for him to keep his mind on his work when he’s in a war zone, and he wants to change jobs to something less stressful. But he’s got one last assignment, in war-torn Yugoslavia, in 1991, at the height of the fighting. Word comes back that he apparently died in a building collapse, but his wife Sarah (also a journalist for Newsweek) refuses to believe that he’s dead and goes looking for him. She’s helped immensely by the photo-journalists Eric Kyle and Marc Stevenson that she runs into over there; together, they’re determined to make it through the chaotic landscape to Vukovar, which is not only the nexus of the war but where she believes Harrison is located. Meanwhile, Harrison’s son Cesar is looking after his father’s prized greenhouse, keeping hope, and flowers, alive.
If you like to add a movie please comment below.
is the light. If you look at these movies with a technical eye, you’ll see that in order to control the contrast, they used a lot of additional light in almost every scene. Even outdoor scenes where exposed with big spotlights. And if they shot inside you’ll see that although the interior is perfectly lit, the outside windows aren’t overexposed.