Genius Of Photography Series

This month’s “Best Web Video” is actually an entire series — the Genius Of Photography produced by the BBC (site here). If you are trying to figure out how to be a photographer today, I think it’s essential to expose yourself (pun intended) to a bit of the 170 years of our collective history. Consider this 6-part series to be a must watch.

Outside the UK, the Genius Of Photography appears periodically on Ovation (USA), ABC (Australia), Knowledge Network (Canada) and elsewhere. Fortunately for the impatient and impulsive, the entire series has been posted on YouTube in 10 minute installments. To make things easy, I’ve collected all 37 links below.

Enjoy. Learn. Pass it on.

The Genius of Photography Series

1. Fixing the Shadows – Tracks the first attempts to make images permanent and the mass appeal that the invention of Kodak created. Featuring: Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Eadweard Muybridge, Andre Kertesz and others.
Ep 1 – Part 1
Ep 1 – Part 2
Ep 1 – Part 3
Ep 1 – Part 4
Ep 1 – Part 5
Ep 1 – Part 6

2. Documents for Artists – After World War One the potential of photography attracted the attention of artists and governments alike. Featuring: May Ray, Dorothea Lange, Alexander Rodchenko and others.
Ep 2 – Part 1
Ep 2 – Part 2
Ep 2 – Part 3
Ep 2 – Part 4
Ep 2 – Part 5
Ep 2 – Part 6
Ep 2 – Part 7

3. Right Time, Right Place – Examines the photographs of D-Day, the Holocaust and Hiroshima raising questions about history as seen through the viewfinder. Featuring: Henryk Ross, W Eugene Smith, Robert Capa and others.
Ep 3 – Part 1
Ep 3 – Part 2
Ep 3 – Part 3
Ep 3 – Part 4
Ep 3 – Part 5
Ep 3 – Part 6

4. Paper Movies – Charts the golden age of ‘photographic journeys’ and how the use of colour slowly became a credible medium for ‘serious’ photographers. Featuring: Stephen Shore, Tony Ray Jones, Ed Ruscha and others.
Ep 4 – Part 1
Ep 4 – Part 2
Ep 4 – Part 3
Ep 4 – Part 4
Ep 4 – Part 5
Ep 4 – Part 6

5. We Are Family – Having conquered the street and the road, photographers approached the final frontier: the home, the self, and private life. Featuring: Larry Sultan, Cindy Sherman, Richard Billingham and others.
Ep 5 – Part 1
Ep 5 – Part 2
Ep 5 – Part 3
Ep 5 – Part 4
Ep 5 – Part 5
Ep 5 – Part 6

6. Snap Judgments – Shows how photography has become part of the art world where a single image can cost $2.9m and, in the digital world, where all images are possible. Featuring: Martin Parr, Gregory Crewdson, Seydou Keita and others.
Ep 6 – Part 1
Ep 6 – Part 2
Ep 6 – Part 3
Ep 6 – Part 4
Ep 6 – Part 5
Ep 6 – Part 6