BBC Four Features The Genius of Photography

Jacques-Henri Lartigue Foundation

BBC Four has this series, The Genius of Photography, where the TV program takes us from the dawn of photography – in the time of Louis Daguerre in the mid-1800s – to the digital age. It chronicles the glorious eras in between.

“In the course of our 170 year relationship, photography has delighted us, served us, moved us, outraged us and occasionally disappointed us. But mainly, it has intrigued us by showing the secret strangeness that lies beneath the world of appearances. And that is photography’s true genius,” goes the introduction to the series.

It is a very comprehensive look at photography, exploring every aspect of photography – from daguerreotype to digital, portraits to photo-journalism, art to advertising; in the UK, America, China, Japan, Africa and beyond. The program also features interviews with some of the world’s greatest living photographers including William Eggleston, Nan Goldin, William Klein, Martin Parr, Sally Mann, Robert Adams, Juergen Teller, Andreas Gursky, Jeff Wall and many others.

If you can’t watch the series in the UK, the BBC online allows us to watch some of the videos on their site.

[Site: BBC.co.uk]
Photo: Jacques-Henri Lartigue Foundation

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.