James Ravilious, Robert Capa and Eugene Smith

The Saturday before last was a real treat for Photography lovers on BBC4. It showed one cracking documentary after another. My favourites were the docs on the English Photographer James Ravilious which I'd seen before, the Hungarian Photographer Robert Capa and the American Photographer Eugene Smith.

Robert Capa photographed in 5 major conflicts including the Spanish Civil war which I've always had an interest in since seeing Ken Loache's film Land and Freedom in Edinburgh in the nineties. What a life Capa had and what a talented man. When I get my first pay cheque I'm buying one of his books as a treat.

The other great documentary was on the American Photographer Eugene Smith. In the 60's Smith was commissioned by Life magazine to come over to Britain and photograph the Clement Atley election campaign. The conservative owner of Life was a critic of the UK's Labour government at the time and wanted Smith to use his trademark gritty style to show a Britain that represented his perceived personal views of maligned post war Britain. Sometime into his assignment Smith got bored and headed for the South Wales valleys were he discovered a subject that would satisfy his urges for dark, gritty heavy industrial landscapes; he found the Welsh coal mines and the communities that worked them. He would go on to say that during that time in Wales he experienced one of the most creative periods in his life. And this from the man who produced the startling Pittsburgh project which is a tremendous body of work and not too disimilar from the subjects he found in Wales.

I recorded both documentaries and I'm sure I will find them an inspiration in my photography in years to come.