The following list is 15 of my favorite movies about photography (in one way or another). Whenever I am in a photography funk I like to sit and watch someone else taking photos until I get the fear of missing out. Then I get out and take photos.
Also included is the full free video (where possible) or a link to the cheapest streamable version. You may have to do a little googling around in different countries but they are all available online.
If you enjoy the list please share it with someone you know who is into photography. Please add any movies that you have been inspired by in the comments below.
The less time we have uninspired the more great pictures we can take!
The Best Movies about Photography:
1. Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (2012)
A documentary shot over a decade with unprecedented access to photographer Gregory Crewdson that bears the artist’s process.
2. William Eggleston: In the Real World (2005)
The film reveals the deep connection between William Eggleston’s personality and his work, and also reveals his parallel commitments as a musician, draftsman, and videographer.
3. Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens (2008)
Barbara Leibovitz’s intimate biography of her sister the photographer Annie Leibovitz.
If you are in the USA (or VPN) You can watch the full video HERE
4. James Nachtwey: War Photographer (2001)
A documentary about war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever.
5. The Bang Bang Club (2010)
A drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa.
6. Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
A profile of the noted and extraordinarily cheerful veteran New York City fashion photographer.
More information at IMDB
7. Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (2004)
Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta, and the relationships they developed with the children of prostitutes who work the city’s notorious red-light district.
8. Blow-Up (1966)
A mod London photographer seems to find something very suspicious in the shots he has taken of a mysterious beauty in a desolate park.
9. Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye (2003)
Filmed only a few years before his death, this documentary focuses on the career of Henri Cartier-Bresson, a frustrated painter who became a world-renowned photographer.
10. Visual Acoustics (2008)
Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream.
11. Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge (1989)
A camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy.
12. One Hour Photo (2002)
An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family.
13. Shooting Robert King (2008)
Follows Robert King in his fifteen years as a war photographer.
14. Manufactured Landscapes (2006)
Photographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing.
15. Rear Window (1954)
Wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
16. High Art (1998)
Starring Radha Mitchell as a young female intern at a small magazine, falls in love with a drug-addicted lesbian photographer Ally Sheedy, while they exploit each other to move forward and advance their careers.
17. Closer (2004)
In this romantic love story starring Julia Roberts, two couples meet, cheat and deceive each other as it grows into a very dangerous love story.
18. Pecker (1998)
A comedy-drama film starring Edward Furlong as a talented young photographer. He gets discovered by New York City art dealer who leads him to his newfound fame.
19. Proof (1991)
Looked after by a hous