The last few years have some tremendously good documentary movies about photography and photographers released on DVD. Here’s my pick of the best 10. Click on the cover to see the film in Amazon.co.uk:

Visual Acoustics: Modernism of Julius Shulman [2010]

Essential if you are interested in one of the masters of architectural photography or modernism in LA from the Case study Houses onwards. Very poignant to see Shulman’s archive been shipped to the Getty centre a year before he passed away.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye [2006]



If you are a cartier-Bresson fan like me this is a real treat and goes well beyond the surface in exploring his his oeuvre and plenty of interviews of the man himself discussing his iconic and lesser known work.

The Genius of Photography [2007]



The best filmed introduction to the magic of photography. The BBC at its best in six episodes. 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 and Jeff Wall.

War Photographer [2002]



A study of James Nachtwey on assignment in Kosovo, Palestine and Indonesia using a movie camera attached to his SLR its enlightening how the subjects in these harrowing situations are wholly complicit in the image making process. (It should be noted there are no subtitles for the German and Albanian parts in the DVD)

Manufactured Landscapes [2006]



Follows Edward Burtynsky at work in China and Bangladesh and the USA. Filmed by Jennifer Baichwal in a complimentary refined aesthetic to Burtynsky’s work. Beautiful.

Annie Leibovitz – Life Through a Lens [2006]



A documentary about Annie Leibovitz, directed by her sister, Barbara. I wasn’t expecting a film about celebrity culture to have so many intelligent insights.

National Geographic’s The Photographers [1996]



Looking a little out of date now, but fascinating never the less, this documentary follows veteran photographers for National Geographic on assignment.

What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann [2008]



Enlightening on many levels as a good documentary film should be and shows footage of her actually taking some of her most famed photographs

Contacts, Vol. 3: Conceptual Photography (2001)



Features Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Roni Horn, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and other contemporary photographers told in their own words.

William Eggleston in the Real World [2005]



I find Eggleston like Tilmans a difficult photographer to appreciate but this film me understand where he’s coming from.

Please add your suggestions to add to this list in the comments below…..