The New York Times recently published this 6-minute Op-Doc ("opinion documentary") about the work of urbex ("urban exploration") photographer Vic Invades (real name Victor Thomas).
Thomas has attracted over 19,000 to his Instagram account by finding interesting and dangerous vantage points in New York City, often by illegally trespassing.
Ansel Adams is best known for his breathtaking landscape photos, but he photographed much more than nature during his decades-long career. In 1943, already the best-known American photographer, Adams visited the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, one of the relocation camps the US gathered Japanese-Americans into during World War II.
Over the past two years, photographer Ho Hai Tran has traveled over 14,000 km (~8700 miles) to capture old and iconic Pizza Hut restaurants that have since been turned into something new.
When nine photographers from as far away as India, Hong Kong and Croatia descend upon Newburgh along the Hudson River, 60 miles north of New York City, the question asked most by Newburghers and our friends and family was, "why Newburgh?" The short answer is we are documenting a historic town on the cusp of a revival.
Peter van Agtmael is a New York-based conflict photographer and a member of Magnum Photos. Since 2006, he has photographed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the effect of the wars in the US.
Recently, Agtmael was asked to turn his lens on a different subject: science. Stanford University reached out to Van Agtmael and invited the photographer to use his skills to document basic science research happening on campus.
Porter Yates is a Brooklyn, New York-based photographer who takes his camera to the remote corners of the world, documenting the beauty and uniqueness of different cultures by embedding himself in those communities of people.
My name is Neels Castillon, I’m a 27-year-old French photographer and filmmaker based in Paris, France, and I started my photography journey more than ten years ago.
My work is deeply inspired by photographers on the boundary of art and documentary -- photographers like Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, and (more recently) Alec Soth. I share their passion for the painter Edward Hopper, who was himself influenced by cinema.
Back in 2002, photographer Christopher Herwig embarked on a long-distance bike ride from London, England, to St. Petersburg, Russia -- a journey that spanned over 1,500 miles. The trip was also a photo ride, as Herwig challenged himself to capture one good photo per hour. As he biked through former Soviet countries, Herwig began noticing how unique many of the bus stops were.
12 years later, those bus stops are now the focus of a new photo project and book by Herwig that's titled Soviet Bus Stops.
Update on 12/16/21: This video has been removed by its creator.
Back in 2012, we shared a post about the life and work of Anton Kusters, a Belgian photographer who spent two years living among the members of a Japanese Yakuza family to document life in the criminal underworld.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina ravaging the city of New Orleans. Photographer Seph Lawless was recently commissioned by The Guardian to use his camera to explore and document the aftermath of the storm as it appears a decade after its landfall.
Over the years, we've posted a number of tutorials on how to develop film using coffee and vitamin C, which combine to create a photo process known as caffenol. The solution can be used to develop prints as well, and that's what photographer Gijs van den Berg did for a recent project that documents coffeehouses in Amsterdam.
After photographing each shop, Gijs printed the photos in his darkroom using caffenol created from that shop's coffee.
Giles Penfound is a photographer with an engrossing past and a story to tell. Penfound began his journey as a professional photographer over 25 years ago and spent most of his time documenting military operations from within the British Army. Documentary photographer Neale James approached Penfound to produce a short film about his life and work, and the result is the inspirational 30-minute video above. (Note: the video contains some strong language.)
If you can carve a couple of hours out of your day, you should watch the film "Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning." It's a 2-hour-long documentary by PBS about the life and work of photographer Dorothea Lange, who created the iconic Migrant Mother photo back in 1936 during the Great Depression.
Our buddies over at DigitalRev TV made this humorous nature documentary parody about …
Economist Films just published this 12-minute mini documentary that puts the spotlight on …
Back in March 2015, NYC-based photographer Joey L. traveled to the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Syria to start another one of his amazing personal projects. This time he pointed his camera at Kurdish guerrilla groups who have been fighting in the Syrian civil war for independence and a region to call their own.
Here's a fascinating 14-minute documentary about the work of Chris Farina, one of the world's top boxing photographers and the official shooter for Top Rank. Farina shares about his career journey and how he goes about shooting some of the biggest athletes and fights in the sport.
Jessica Lehrman is a 26-year-old Brooklyn-based documentary photographer who captures the glamor and grit of contemporary underground movements, from the underbelly of New York City's hip hop community to protests and social revolutions.
Bending the Light is a new documentary film by renowned filmmaker Michael Apted about the journey of glass from the artisans who have dedicated their lives to crafting the perfect lens to the photographers who spend their careers chasing after the perfect shot.
Above is a 3-minute trailer that will give you a taste of what the movie is about.
Brave New Camera is an upcoming documentary film that looks at how recent developments in cameras -- things like Internet-connectivity, near-infinite storage, and powerful algorithms -- has changed and is changing the world we live in.
Canadian freelance photographer Jesse Yardley created this mini documentary about the current state of film photography in Calgary. Worried that analog may be a "dying art," Yardley did interviews with some notable photographers in the area to find out if film still has a chance.
Back in June, I was lucky enough to partner with a Boston-based nonprofit, Shooting Touch, to travel to Rwanda and document the participants in their "Basketball Health Corps" initiative. They use the sport of basketball and their partnerships with health administrators to teach children valuable skills and preventative treatments when it comes to HIV/AIDS, malaria, and daily health.
"Photography Made Difficult" is a 1989 documentary about the career of renowned photojournalist William Eugene Smith, a man who helped to pioneer the concept of the photo essay. It runs 1 hour and 40 minutes long.
The Ganges river in India and Bangladesh is the holiest river in Hinduism. Every day, hundreds of dead bodies …
The Salt of the Earth is a documentary film released last year by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, the son of renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. It explores the work of the elder Salgado, who has traveled the Earth for the past 40 years in order to document our planet and the human condition. Above is the trailer for the film (note: there's a bit of nudity in these clips), which will be hitting theaters in the US starting later this month.
Photographs by Patrick T. Fallon for ProPublica, captions by Michael Grabell Joel Ramirez was paralyzed from the waist down …
English rock band The Police sold over 75 million records over the course of their decade-long career, making them one of the best selling music artists of all time. In addition to being the band's lead guitarist, Andy Summers was also a passionate photographer who captured behind-the-scenes photos of the band at the peak of their popularity.
Those photographs will be featured in a new documentary later this year, titled Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police.
Photographer Craig Boudreaux was personally impacted by the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. Among the homes that were destroyed by rains, winds, and flooding were his grandmother's home, his friends' homes, and even his childhood home.
A year after Katrina struck, and after the flood waters had long gone, Boudreaux revisited some ravaged areas in New Orleans, capturing the aftermath of a storm that changed so many lives.
Jake Niece is a "jake of all trades" who uses both mind and muscle in his multiple lines of work. In the summer he works as a wildland firefighter in Colorado, and in the winter he works on snowmaking crews. In both seasons he carries a camera and creates beautiful images through his passion for photography, which he has since turned into a third profession.
Here's a 5-minute video by Seeker Stories about how young urban explorers are connecting through Instagram and teaming up to explore the hidden places of New York City. They risk arrest -- and often death -- to see and photograph the city from perspectives that ordinary people will never get to experience.