October 23, 1999 -- It is part technology, part history, and part art. But mostly, it is about America's "picture culture," and how photography has impacted our beliefs and our lives. "American Photography: A Century of Images" is a 3-hour documentary produced and directed by Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde and distributed by PBS. It's a long film, but is worth viewing not only for the great photographs but also for the perceptive insights offered by film's producers and the comments made by the many photographic experts.

This documentary does not just shower famous photographers with accolades. We discover how photography is and has been a tool for propaganda for our government. Presidents use "photo ops" to control images of themselves and their policies; the military controls photojournalists, dictating where they will be while covering combats in a war zone. Even renowned independent photographers such as Edward Curtis created fantasy photographs of native Americans. But for most photographers, amateur or professional, taking a photo is their "version of the truth."

We all take and share our photos. And often, a photograph allows us to share an experience as one community, one family. There are so many such vivid images-little JFK, Jr. saluting his father, the first photograph of earth taken from space, a gleeful Marilyn Monroe in her flowing white dress. The producers give us over 700 images during the program. It's a lot of images, but tiny compared to the 46-million photographs taken every year today.

The film is divided into three, 1-hour chronological segments. This could have been tedious, but the producers use an innovative technique of short vignettes, much like Ken Burn's technique in "Civil War." Here, the producers give 12 to 15 short stories in each hour. The program moves briskly, in example, from the discovery of the wire photo for news in 1935 (allowing the common sharing of an event on the same day), to Henry Luce's creation of Life Magazine, to Gordon Parks early civil rights photographs, to Ansel Adams' landscapes, to five famous photos of World War II (flag raising in Iwo Jima is one).

Photography "links us all; it keeps us together. It's really what our history is." For the film's producers, it's a tool for social reform as well as selling us a product; it is our personal family history; and it is artistic expression. What if there was no photography? How would we remember? For most of us, we cannot even imagine the prospect of no photographs. Aside from TV and moving images, photographs have become deeply rooted in every aspect of our culture. From the introduction of the Brownie camera at the turn of the century to the impact of digital technology on today's photographs, this documentary offers a glorious century of images.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Mike McElreath can be reached via e-mail as MikeM@uwyo.edu