The UNP Top 20 Films On Photographers

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The UNP Top 20 Films On Photographers

15/07/2026

I never get tired of watching films, featuring or documenting, the lives of photographers. Primarily because, that is how I learnt about photography, from watching and listening. I never studied photography formally, I learnt by working with some of the best and most interesing photographers of the past sixty years or so. Now, with the plethora of films about photographers being made, such learning is available to all. They are not all easy to find, and may require the purchasing of a DVD, or a subscription to a streaming service. Others are ‘free as a bird’ on YouTube. However, I believe that a little investment in time or money is worth considering for the education and entertainment, that all of the films in my list deliver. As always this list, is in no particular order.

Bill Cunningham: Bill Cunningham: New York (2010) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQklk_cfVs

Saul Leiter: In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life With Saul Leiter (2013) Trailer: www.saulleiterfoundation.org/in-no-great-hurry

Robert Frank: Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank (2023) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHArZEr_UAU

Peter Hujar: Peter Hujar’s Day (2026) Trailer: https://peterhujarsday.com

Joel Meyerowitz: Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2025) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=l28xXo-zpqo

Lynsey Addario: Love + Hate (2025) www.imdb.com/news/ni65462789/

Robert King: Shooting Robert King (2008) Trailer: www.dailymotion.com/video/xa12or2

Nan Goldin: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD5pYQiT1D4

Sally Mann: What Remains (2005) Trailer: https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/whatremains

Gordon Parks: A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks (2021) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvLP7JExQYc

Bill Jay: Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay (2018) Trailer: www.unitednationsofphotography.com

Richard Avedon: Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light (1995) Film: https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2015/02/13/richard-avedon-darkness-and-light-1995/

Helmut Newton: Helmut by June (1995) www.imdb.com/title/tt1336101/

Sebastio Salgaldo: The Salt of the Earth (2015) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgd3ZDtx8lg

James Nachtwey: War Photographer (2001) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=doV8xokcTuo

W. Eugene Smith: Photography made Difficult (1989) www.imdb.com/title/tt0364110/

Lee Miller: Through the Mirror(1995) www.imdb.com/title/tt1297450/releaseinfo/

William Eggleston: In the Real World(2005) www.imdb.com/title/tt0443698/

Bert Stern: Original Madman (2011) Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jNUtjDxMIQ

Tim Hetherington: Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington (2013) Trailer: www.theguardian.com/film/video/2013/oct/07/documentary-tim-hetherington-video

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.