Since the advent of photography, capturing fleeting occurrences, glances and glimpses has become ever more commonplace. The prominent Swiss photographer René Burri, who died in October 2014 at the age of 81, specialised in those ephemeral moments, which he aimed to catch ‘like a fly in flight’. Burri had a way of seeing that allowed him to find the otherwise unseen moments of life, a gift that he explained, in simpler terms, as showing what the world looked like. In this film, the late photographer discusses six of his most famous works.
René Burri on a career of turning evanescent moments into indelible photographs
Director: Anthony Austin
Producer: Helena Reis
9 December 2014
videoArt
The inadvertent art of tiny bodies – stunning, hidden patterns of animal movement
10 minutes
videoBiography and memoir
Do we need our memories when we can document virtually every aspect of our lives?
10 minutes
videoPhilosophy of mind
An enigmatic ‘story of consciousness’ told through 19th-century engravings
7 minutes
videoBiology
Starlings swoosh like brushstrokes across the sky in this dazzling short
3 minutes
videoArt
At 95, an artist paints swiftly to capture the fugitive light
6 minutes
videoArt
David Goldblatt captured the contradictions of apartheid in stark black and white
15 minutes
videoPersonality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
videoBiography and memoir
A man looks back on life with his beloved wife – on the ebb and flow of memories
3 minutes
videoHistory of technology
See the Mediterranean as it was captured in some of the earliest surviving photographs
20 minutes