Season 1
6 episodes · Oct 25, 2007
Season Videos
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- S1E1
Fixing the Shadows
Oct 25, 200760mThis elegant, studious documentary - the first of a six-part series - leads us from ancient Rome to the Great War. Taking as its starting point the baffling natural phenomenon of camera obscura, it reveals how mathematician Henry Fox Talbot’s inability to draw led him to pioneer photographic methods, and how the new discovery made a big impression on painter Edgar Degas. The early tussle to see which photographic process would gain the upper hand is a fascinating one. Though occasionally dry and prone to pseudobabble, it covers a lot of territory, and Denis Lawson’s arch narration is the perfect accompaniment to some unforgettable images
- S1E2
Documents For Artists
Nov 1, 200760mBy the end of World War One photography had become the central medium of the age. Photographers began to turn their lenses to the plight of rural victims of the American Depression and minority communities. Alexander Rodchenko and August Sander found their artistic skills put to another use by the state – as propaganda. Documents for Artists focuses on the first few decades after World War One when the potential of photography attracted the attention of artists and governments alike.
- S1E3
Right Time Right Place
Nov 8, 200760mExamines the photographs of D-Day, the Holocaust and Hiroshima raising questions about history as seen through the viewfinder.
- S1E4
Paper Movies
Nov 15, 200760mAfter World War One the potential of photography attracted the attention of artists and governments alike.
- S1E5
We Are Family
Nov 22, 200760mHaving conquered the street and the road, photographers approached the final frontier: the home, the self, and private life.
- S1E6
Snap Judgements
Nov 29, 200760mShows 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.