3 Discover inspirational photography content
Spending time at home is a great opportunity to be inspired by the work of some of the world’s leading practitioners of photography – as seen on a screen near you
Photographic inspiration can come from anywhere and take many forms, but home entertainment isn’t always one of the first places you’d consider looking in.
Yet there are more options here than one would first think. YouTube is a repository of some amazing content about photography, including TV series from the days when cameras sold by the truckload, and collecting a packet of freshly developed prints or processed slides was one of life’s fondest rituals.
Our colleagues on the Digital Camera World website have helpfully compiled a round-up of the best programmes about photography you’ll find online.
Their selection includes some gems from modern-day broadcast TV, in both documentary and reality formats, plus made-for-streaming short films. And then there’s World of Photography, the programme that was a staple of US TV in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
These are just some of the examples you’ll find, of course, and they’re all available for free as long as you don’t mind being served advertising. (For an ad-free experience, you will need to subscribe to YouTube Premium.)
In the paid-for content space, Netflix offers some compelling programming about photography, including the multi-season series Tales by Light (see opposite), as well as documentary films.
And while mainstream cinema has been a major influence on the work of a panorama of leading photographers, it has also produced some memorable films about photography itself. We showcase some leading examples – old and new – over the page.
But photography doesn’t just attract visual commentary; in recent times podcasts have started to really come of age, so we’re including them, too.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Internet access or satellite TV Amazon Prime, Netflix or other streaming service subscription Podcast app for mobile devices Time required: as long as you want!