Movies every wildlife photographer should see

Sometimes we all need a little inspiration, ideas, or even encouragement when going out to make some images. One of the easiest ways to stimulate our inner muse is to look at other peoples work. Today, more than ever, that is very easy to do by visiting the plethora of online photosharing sites as well as some of the online magazines or discussion sites.

However, I think that sometimes a movie is a much more effective way to get your juices flowing. I am not sure what it is about moving images, but often times they are more effective at getting me motivated to go out and make some great photos. To that end this is my list of movies every wildlife photographer should see.

Baraka

Baraka, by famous director Ron Fricke, is a feast for the eyes. It is an unusual movie, in that there really isn’t plot line, but simply a series of riveting images shot over a 14 month period at 152 locations across 24 countries. You will see some of the most spectacular imagery planet earth has to offer as well as some of the most fantastic time-lapse photography you will see. This is cinematography at it’s best. I guarantee that after watching this movie, you will come out with at least half a dozen new ideas for different perspectives and angles on subjects you may have shot dozens if not hundreds of times. If there is only ONE movie you will watch or buy in the next year, this is the one to get. I must have watched this movie at least a dozen times already, just writing this makes me want to watch it again. Make sure you watch the “making of” extra on the DVD, as you will get a great deal of information on the techniques used to make the film.

Planet Earth

Planet Earth is a ground breaking TV series commissioned by the BBC Natural History Unit. This eleven episode nature documentary series took over 4 years to film and the first one to be filmed in High Definition. The scenery and footage on this film is just breathtaking and inspiring. Make sure to view/purchase the BBC version that is narrated by David Attenborough. There are significant, and important omissions in the Discovery channel version narrated by Sigourney Weaver. This series features more than a dozen TV firsts, and is not one to be missed. As with Baraka, make sure to watch the “Planet Earth Diaries” at the end of each episode to get a “behind the scenes” look at the techniques used to get some of this incredible footage.

Sir David Attenborough, a naturalist and broadcaster with over 50 years creating nature documentaries, created an incredible series of nature documentaries commonly referred to as “The Life” series. Nine series have been produced, and I would recommend them all. However I realize not everyone will be able to watch them all as they are very comprehensive; for example “The life of Birds” alone encompasses 10 episodes at 50 minutes each! However you will see some incredible wildlife footage, like you have never seen before.

So if you can only watch a few of the series here are the ones I recommend:

The Life of Birds	Life of Mammals
Life in the undergrowth	Life in cold blood

This is my ultimate list of “must watch” movies for wildlife/nature photographers, I would love to hear your opinions as to what other movies I may have missed. Please feel free to add your choices in the comments below.

As always, if you have any questions or comments use the comments section below or you can reach me via twitter at http://twitter.com/jpons.

Juan

P.S. all the images above are links to the respective product pages on Amazon.com. Your purchase thru those links supports this website.