Toronto Photography Meetup Group

A topic that sort of came up at last night's social.

Blow Up A mod London photographer believes that he has photographed a murder.

Pecker A Baltimore sandwich shop employee becomes an overnight sensation when photographs he's taken of his weird family become the latest rage in the art world. The young man is called "Pecker" because he pecks at his food like a bird.

Descriptions taken from IMDB.

"Photographing Fairies" 1997 fantasy film based on Steve Szilagyi's novel "Photographing Fairies" (1992), with Ben Kingsley...unfortunately not available in North America, but you can watch it on YouTube.

Along the same story line there's "FairyTale: A True Story" also released in 1997 which is available in North America.

Both are based on Cottingley Fairies where two children in 1917 take a photograph, believed by some to be the first scientific evidence of the existence of fairies. Based on a true story.

You can read more about Cottingley Fairies at:
http://www.cottingleyconnect.org.uk/fairies.htm

"Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus"..."Turning her back on her wealthy, established family, Diane Arbus falls in love with Lionel Sweeney, an enigmatic mentor who introduces Arbus to the marginalized people who help her become one of the most revered photographers of the twentieth century." - IMDB.com

BTW, IMDB.com (Internet Movie DataBase) has the ability to search on tags...here's the link for "Photographer":
http://www.imdb.com/keyword/photographer/

James Woods in Salvador is a great movie.

Colin Farrel in Triage was ehhh.

Robin William in "One Hour Photo"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/

That one was creepy!

Then there's the chick flick Bridges of Madison County with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

Sorry to monopolize the thread, but there's so many I've seen...

"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"...the reporter, Polly Perkins (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is always fiddling with her camera. I won't give anything away, but the last line in the movie is the funniest (although in this case Jude Law was only joking).

"Railrodder" this is a tough one to find from 1965 starring Buster Keyton which is an NFB short (25min) and an ode to Canada. Buster is riding the rails travelling across Canada on a railway track speeder. Again I don't want to give the photography part away, but it's typical Buster Keyton humour. The photography part starts around the 15minute mark, but the entire movie is worth watching for laughs. You can actually watch Railrodder online at:
http://www.nfb.ca/film/railrodder/

Jason Statham in The Expendables.

The Year of Living Dangerously - Linda Hunt's character is a photographer.

Crime thriller, Paparazzi

Hitchcock's "Rear Window", starring Jimmy Stewart.

(Also taken from imdb.com)

Professional photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries breaks his leg while getting an action shot at an auto race. Confined to his New York apartment, he spends his time looking out of the rear window observing the neighbors. He begins to suspect that a man across the courtyard may have murdered his wife. Jeff enlists the help of his high society fashion-consultant girlfriend Lisa Freemont and his visiting nurse Stella to investigate.

A "theme" is just a part of a narrative, not the plot. Simply, in most narratives, any recurring element is a theme.

Well photography IS a recurring theme in that movie. He uses a camera in one of the early scenes. He makes money by freelancing for The Daily Bugle, taking pictures of himself in costume.

When starting the thread I was hoping for examples of photography being a predominant theme, but hey, it's an internet forum, I'm not going to be a stickler.

indeed it is.

Nick Nolte in Under Fire (1983).

Teenage Paparazzo - A documentary by Adrian Grenier about a boy in L.A. going around paping celebrities. This kid was making more at the age of 14 than I am now!

It's on HBO for those that have it.

teenagepaprazzo.com