In the middle of April, Netflix quietly uploaded the Platon episode of its excellent 2017 docuseries "Abstract: The Art of Design" to YouTube, where you can watch it for free, even if you don't have a subscription. It's not an exaggeration to call this a must-watch.
We've seen our fair share of strange, voyeuristic, and sometimes ethically questionable photo and video projects, but this one tops the list. After having his phone stolen, film student Anthony van der Meer hatched a plan: he had another phone stolen on purpose, and then followed the thief around for weeks using a hidden app.
Join us as we take a nostalgic trip into photography's hey day. It's 1978, and you're a fly on the wall at Contact Press Images, working with world-class photojournalist David Burnett on a photo essay about the last traditional cattle drive.
GoPro broke one of its big rules to share this short documentary. It is one of the only GoPro videos you'll ever see that isn't shot entirely on the company's own cameras, but once you watch it you'll understand why.
There's a simple, obvious power housed inside of a photograph. Even a poorly lit snapshot captured at arm's length with a few friends squeezed uncomfortably into the frame, even it is immeasurably precious because it contains the seeds of a memory.
This short doc by Google Photos reminds us of that fact.
Lytro recently created a fascinating documentary to show off the capabilities of its new Illum camera.
By teaming up with five different photographers, all from different styles of work, the company was able to capture how this new approach to photography can be used to turn a photograph into something more... an experience.
If you're commissioned to make an ad for a major camera company, might we make a small suggestion? Don't show any cameras. It might seem like a stupid idea on the surface, but when you consider the effectiveness of the Canon ad we shared a couple of weeks ago and this Pentax ad we're sharing today, you might just agree with us.
In the (slightly paraphrased) words of rapper and former Pimp My Ride host Xzibit, "Yo dawgs, we heard you liked the Nikon D4s, so here's a video about the D4s, shot on a D4s".
Apparently the newest, coolest way to show off your new camera is by sending it up with some professional skydivers and telling them to have at it. Okay, maybe it's too early to spot a trend, but Nikon did recently decide to follow in Sony's footsteps and send a couple of D5300s up with a pro skydive photographer to show them off.
Those readers who often find themselves afflicted with a serious case of wanderlust might want to avoid this post. In the 10-minute documentary above, director Charlene Winfred will take you on a journey with self-proclaimed "gypsy" and "nomad" photographer Flemming Bo Jensen that will have you reaching for your camera gear with one hand while you shop for plane tickets online with the other.
In honor of Memorial Day, a couple of months ago, the folks behind the Sundance Film Festival decided to dig up a short honorable mention winner from 2007 and put it up on YouTube. Called Spitfire 944, the film show WWII Photo Reconnaissance pilot Lt Col. John S. Blyth telling his story and reacting to footage of a crash landing he made all the way back in 1944 that he had never seen before.
"I've concentrated on the poor ... the rich ones have their own photographers." Those words, spoken by the late great Milton Rogovin, begin the award-winning short documentary The Forgotten Ones.
Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde's photos of clouds hanging mysteriously in indoor locations have earned him a good bit of popularity. Created by using a smoke machine, precise atmospheric conditions and dramatic lighting, his Nimbus photos juxtapose the indoor and outdoor worlds.
In the short documentary video above, Smilde sat down with Avant/Garde Diaries and discussed his work, lending us some perspective on why he creates these photos and where he finds inspiration.
A couple of years ago, Irina Werning burst into the public eye when her series Back to the Future went viral. What started as a project were she would have relatives in Buenos Aires reenact old photos of themselves, has since expanded to a photographic phenomenon that has taken her all over the world.
The short documentary above gives us a chance to hear Werning's thoughts on the project: why she does it, how she puts the shots together, and whether or not she ever feels the project will truly be over.
Photographer Jason D. Page came to light painting by accident. Carrying his camera down the beach on a full moon night, he was taking long exposure of the water when he accidentally bumped his tripod -- from that moment on, he was hooked. But the reasons why light painting was able to have such an instant and significant impact on his life go much deeper than the accidental discovery of a cool technique.
In this short documentary, Page talks about his passion in depth, explaining how light painting works and giving us a glimpse into the dark past that drove him to ultimately 'see the light.'
Instagram is a lot of things: a photography app, a social network, a way to express yourself and a cause for headaches for the photographers who aren't trilled by the concept. For the most adamant of Instagram users, however, Instagram is a community.
And it's that community that filmmaker Paul Tellefsen sought to connect with when he chose to create the above short documentary Instagram is.
Car photography isn't nearly as glamorous or talked about as portrait, wedding and landscape photography, which is probably why you probably have never heard of John Jackson. But well-known or not, he happens to be a great example of the free, "doing what you love" (and taking pictures of it) lifestyle that so many people look for photography to give them.