Written, directed and produced by Ric Burns and timed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ansel Adams's birth, Ansel Adams is an elegant, moving and lyrical portrait of one of the most eloquent and quintessentially American photographers. At the heart of the film are the themes that absorbed Adams throughout his career: the beauty and fragility of "the American earth," the inseparable bond between man and nature and the moral obligations that the present owes to the future. Ansel Adams was co-produced by the Sierra Club and attracted 5 million broadcast viewers upon its initial airing on PBS.

Release date: January 2003
DVD Features: Widescreen anamorphic format

This half-hour documentary was made that same year. It explores her work and ideas, often in her own words as spoken by a close friend. It includes reflections by some of the people who knew her best; daughter Doon, teacher Lisette Model, colleague Marvin Israel, and John Szarkowski, at that time the director of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art.

Release date: June 2006

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Vividly portrayed in this American Masters Special, photographer Richard Avedon shoots for two different worlds. Primarily, he is a fashion photographer, having worked for various magazines for more than 50 years. Of particular note is the description of photographing Natassja Kinski, a shoot that took two hours of her lying naked on a cement floor as they tried to coax a snake up her body. As a fashion photographer, Avedon became known for his sense of movement and the energy he captured in each image; he gets exquisite models to leap, move, and flip their hair. His second, and perhaps lesser-known, body of work is art photography, including portraits of the famous and the unknown, with a signature style of photographing his sitters on a white background with no props. This documentary ably captures the tension between these two directions in his work by overlaying the positive and negative viewpoints about his photography in a collage of voiceovers. We learn how Avedon views his role as a photographer, and that for him the end result captures "the death of the moment." Also included are the controversial images of his dying father. This program aptly depicts this highly creative man exposed through his work as vulnerable, obsessed, and a perfectionist. This 81-minute-long program will interest a broad audience, from those interested in fashion, people of our times, the history of the 20th century, artists and art historians, and photography in general. --Anne Barclay Morgan --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Release date: April 2002

Actors: Edward Burtynsky
Directors: Jennifer Baichwal
Run time: 90 minutes

Release date: May 2007

Conceived as an introspective journey that takes you from the first daguerreotypes to war photojournalism, from fashion spreads to the greatest contemporary artists, The Adventure of Photography: 150 Years of the Photographic Image includes 1700 pictures and 300 artists, and will appeal to all photographers--amateur and professional alike. This is not only the history of an amazing art form, it is also the adventure of one century and half during which photography has captured the image of the collective conscience. This trip is as dazzling as it is moving, where one crosses paths with such celebrated photographers as Ansel Adams, Brassai, Lewis Carroll, Robert Doisneau, George Eastman-Kodak, Max Ernst, Roger Fenton, Eadweard Muybridge, Helmut Newton, Nicephore Niepce, Man Ray, Edward J. Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Andy Warhol and many more.

Release date: April 2003
DVD Features: 2 discs

This film was made in 1978. Ranging over much of his work, this half-hour documentary presents Kertesz in his own words, explaining many of his pictures and sharing his memories -- provincial life in Hungary, central Europe in the First World War, Paris in the glorious "time between the wars", and famous friends like Colette, Eisenstein, Chagall and Mondrian. Kertesz takes us through his archive and out into the streets of New York City to watch him shoot in his beloved Washington Square and in the medieval environment of The Cloisters. "I was born for photography," he said. "I changed everything in my life for it. You only have one life. No hurry for me... I have the time. Everything is photograph."

Release date: June 2006

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Produced in 1993, this documentary depicts the development of Annie Leibovitz's career as a celebrity photographer, which she began after studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. Giving up a position as staff photographer at Rolling Stone magazine, she went on tour with Mick Jagger, and the photographs of this period reveal the anguish and torment of being a famous musician. This documentary also emphasizes the artistic and metaphorical nature of her portraits: a naked John Lennon embraces Yoko Ono dressed in black just hours before he was murdered; Clint Eastwood stands, but is bound up by a rope; Whoopee Goldberg is captured in a bathtub with legs, arms, and laughing face protruding out of soapy water. At times the photographer's inspiration comes from the person she is portraying, such as when Keith Haring paints a room and then paints his nude body to match the room. We see footage of how she pursues a shot for the cover of Vanity Fair, setting up her equipment in various locations to take provocative photographs of Demi Moore. A naked Demi Moore is painted with a blue suit, while Leibovitz anxiously waits to take the photographs. Produced for London Weekend Television, this 51-minute-long program contains nudity and explicit language, and also talks about the photographer's drug addiction. Nevertheless, through this gifted photographer's vision we get a sweeping view of the 1970s and '80s in the celebrity worlds of music, acting, and politics. --Anne Barclay Morgan --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Release date: August 2001

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As part of the PBS American Masters series, Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde covers the life and artwork of this innovative modern artist with both clips of interviews and archival footage of the times he lived in. Born in Brooklyn as Emanuel Radnitsky, he grew discouraged by the New York art world of the early 1900s, changed his name to Man Ray, and moved to Paris. He was embraced by the Dadaists, many of whom later became Surrealists. Although painting was his main love, he took up photography, making portraits of famous people such as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and Henri Matisse. He developed a new technique, the rayograph, in which he placed objects directly onto paper and exposed them to light. He even made an avant-garde film with this technique. Whether creating Dada sculptures, such as his famous iron with a row of tacks enigmatically entitled Le Cadeau, The Gift, innovative photographs, films, or sculptures, Man Ray always managed to surprise. In order to earn a living, he turned fashion photography into art. After living in California and New York during World War II, he returned to live and work in Paris after the war. Included in this program are wonderful shots of his Paris studio and home. Just under an hour long, this program presents a good look at a remarkable artist. The DVD format also includes an essay by Neil Baldwin, his biographer and author of the script, which underlines the influence of the women in his life. The crispness of the images and the intelligent insights into the ideas of the avant-garde make viewing a great pleasure. --Anne Barclay Morgan

Release Date: December 1999
DVD Features:
1) Recovered archival materials include candid film footage personally shot by Man Ray
2) A never-before-seen video interview unearthed in the vaults of a Rotterdam museum
3) Long lost drawings from his student days that have not been seen since 1908
4) Essay by biographer Neil Baldwin: Man Ray and the Women He Loved
5) Weblinks

The Photographers includes a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of National Geographic photographers and how they get the shot presented in a compelling one-hour program; plus the bonus half-hour film on wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert entitled A Passion for Africa; an assortment of photographs in the Photo Gallery; biographies and photos of the photographers; an interactive trivia quiz; and trailers of other related National Geographic programs.

Release Date: May 2003
DVD Features:
1) Bonus Program: A Passion for Africa
2) Photo Gallery
3) Previews of Additional National Geographic Programs

Helmut Newton is one of the 20th century's leading photographers, both outraging and fascinating the public with his startling, groundbreaking images. He built his reputation with French Vogue with his starkly luminous photos and then went on to stun the fashion world with his bold, erotically charged portraits of naked women. In this intimate look at the artist, we see how Newton changed the field of photography and get a close-up look at the artist's life and work, including insights from portrait subjects Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Sigourney Weaver and Karl Lagerfeld.

Release date: March 2002

Starring: James Nachtwey (photojournalist)
Release date: November 2003
Format: Widescreen

Cast List
James Nachtwey ... Photographer
Christiane Amanpour ... Chief International Correspondent CNN
Hans-Hermann Klare ... Foreign Editor STERN Magazine
Christiane Breustedt ... Editor in Chief GEO SAISON Magazine
Des Wright ... Cameraman REUTERS
Denis O'Neill ... Screenwriter/Jim's Best Friend