insights into photography
I know that lists are things people are supposed to enjoy in blogs, personally I just get irritated by them because of the inclusions and exclusions. Me contrary? Photography has featured in a number of movies (should we really still call them movies, a bit like ‘flat screen’ tvs) anyway this article lists 40 and has missed the Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington and Restrpo both of which I would highly recommend. What about the excellent Finding Vivian Maier or The Bang Bang Club A drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa.
Anyway resourcemagonline has come up with it’s 40, here are just a few in no order whatsoever
This chilling portrayal of life growing up in the favelas and streets of Brazil shows two boys coming of age, one of them growing up to become a photographer. Not only considered as the best film about photography, it is also one of the best films to come out in recent years.
a 60’s film with a cult following status, this film follows Thomas a fashion photographer played by David Hemmings, who discovers he accidentally captured a murder on film in the background of one of the images while he’s developing it in the darkroom.
Nicole Kidman stars in this biopic about the legendary American photographer Diane “Fur” Arbus. The film shows how a lonely and shy housewife in New York set out a journey into the world of photography shooting images of people that stand outside the confines of society.
A dark thriller featuring an inspired Robin Williams playing a Walmart one-hour photo clerk who ended up stalking a family whose pictures he regularly takes and develops.
Three journalists in a romantic triangle are involved in political intrigue during the last days of the corrupt Somozoa regime in Nicaragua before it falls to a popular revolution in 1979. Under Fire is a technically sound cinematic characterization of a wartime photojournalist played by Nick Nolte.
About Tim Hetherington: You Never See Them Like This
Two years after his death, Open Eye Gallery pays tribute to the work of Liverpool-born photojournalist Tim Hetherington (1970 – 2011) in an exhibition of photography and film work. The show is presented in collaboration with the Tim Hetherington Trust and Magnum Photos.
Drawing from the series of images published in his acclaimed book Infidel (Chris Boot Ltd, London 2010), which offers an intimate insight into the lives of American soldiers in conflict but beyond the action of war, almost 30 of Hetherington’s genre-defying photographs will be reproduced in varying scale, including a number of billboard formats.
The exhibition’s title, You Never See Them Like This, is a quote by Tim Hetherington talking to his creative collaborator Sebastian Junger (a journalist and his co-director on the Oscar-winning documentary film, Restrepo), describing the revelation he had looking at the sleeping soldiers: “They always look so tough… but when they’re asleep they look like little boys. They look the way their mothers probably remember them.”
Set against the unexpectedly beautiful landscape of the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, Hetherington’s still images follow the arrival, efforts and advancement of a US contingent in establishing an outpost in this North Eastern part of Afghanistan. The work highlights the long-term nature of Hetherington’s photographic projects, his interest in narrative, human connection and the close relationships he developed with his subjects.
As days of intense conflict are broken up by long periods of waiting, the photo-reporter explores how these soldiers cope with this emotionally draining existence. Looking at how they build up resilience, renegotiate their relations and manage their feelings, Hetherington ultimately documents the formation of a strong brotherhood consolidated over a period of one year, underpinned by themes including sexuality, alienation/isolation and the sense of loss and fear.
Tim Hetherington: You Never See Them Like This is supported by the Mayor of Liverpool.
6 SEPT – 24 NOV 2013
Open Eye Gallery
19 Mann Island
Liverpool Waterfront
Liverpool, L3 1BP
Tim Hetherington, the British photojournalist, who was killed with his colleague Chris Hondros in a mortar blast in Misurata, Libya, on April 20 aged 40, specialised in bringing the viewer close to the terrible truths of battle; last year he won an Oscar nomination for best documentary for the Afghanistan war film Restrepo. Through still photographs, films, videos and internet downloads, Hetherington, who did much work with Human Rights Watch, sought to bridge the gap between the chaos of conflict regions around the world and the comfortable living rooms of his Western audience. As he covered wars in Liberia, Afghanistan, Darfur, Chad and Sri Lanka as well as Libya, his photography was characterised by a remarkable human sensitivity and an eye for the beautiful and strange.
Read the rest of this obituary from The Telegraph
Oxford School of Photography 