There was a great documentary on BBC I think about 1 year ago . . .
'The genius of Photography'
im sure they can be got on YOUTUBE now.
The Genius of Photography Episode Guide
Season 1 Episode 6:
Snap Judgements
An investigation into the financial value of photographs, in light of the record-breaking price achieved by an Edward Steichen print at Sotheby's in 2006. From America to China and Africa, there's a look at how the business of being a photographer has changed by the market's sudden interest in what was once the poor relation of the art world. Last in the series
Season 1 Episode 5:
We Are Family
How the lens translates personal relationships into timeless still images, as strangers, celebrities, lovers and children are captured on film. The programme also shows the consequences when photographers turn their cameras on themselves, examining their decisions over which aspects of their personal lives they reveal
Season 1 Episode 4:
Paper Movies
Journeys that inspired the production of some highly acclaimed photographic works, including Robert Frank's odyssey through Fifties America, William Klein's walk around the pavements of New York, Garry Winogrand's charting of the human comedy in Central Park Zoo and William Eggleston's guide to Memphis and the American South. Part of The Art of Arts TV week
Season 1 Episode 3:
EPISODE: 3
How photographers dealt with the dramatic and tragic events of the Second World War including D-Day, the Holocaust and Hiroshima. Magnum legends Philip Jones Griffiths and Susan Meisalas, soldier-photographer Tony Vaccaro and broadcaster Jon Snow consider the questions extraordinary pictures raise about history, as seen through the viewfinder
Season 1 Episode 2:
1918-1945: Documents for Artists
How the art form's precise, objective and apparently machine-like qualities were utilised to promote the radical utopia of the Soviet Union and bring order and clarity to the chaos of Weimar in Germany. However, while some prized the medium for its ability to document, others were using it to explore the irrational, the subjective and the surreal - photography's natural language
Season 1 Episode 1:
1800-1914
A comprehensive insight into one of the world's most influential art forms. The first episode uncovers some of the key inventions of photography and the way in which it became an integral part of the modern world - not just by documenting but also by changing the way people understood their world. There's also a look at pioneer photographers, including George Eastman, who made photography available to the masses with the invention of the Kodak brand
