Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The world isn’t always tears and angry tweets. Sometimes it’s filled with majestic tigers, adorable penguins, and breathtaking natural formations. Tales by Light explores the wonder and majesty of this planet through the eyes of six professional photographers, and the result will bring peace to your stressful life.
Created by National Geographic and Canon, Tales by Light is an Australian documentary series that promises to show viewers the world through the eyes of a select group of storytellers. Each episode follows a different photographer with a different style and photo concentration, such as landscape, wildlife, underwater, and adventure just to name a few. From there, the series follows these artists as they explain the perfect shot they want to get, how they plan on taking the photo, and what this project and photography as a whole means to them. Tales by Light doesn’t spend much time focusing on technical specifics, rather exploring how the common practice of taking a photo call be an art. Watching the show’s environments and the sacrifices the photographers are willing to make for the perfect shot is breathtaking. In this way, Tales by Life watches almost like a Planet Earth sister series but with photographers standing in the center of each story instead of animals.
The series is such a stunningly gorgeous show, it’s almost difficult to pay attention to its narrative. However, when you finally stop marveling at the expertly framed crevices and volcanos, the series rewards you. The personality of each photographer bleeds into their episode. Whereas marine photographer Darren Jew’s calm demeanor infuses his shots of nurturing whales and forgotten plane crashes with an almost dream-like quality, adventure sports photographer Krystle Wright’s daring shots highlight the overwhelming power of Mother Nature and the insignificance of man. However, the most enjoyable photographer to watch may be Richard I’Anson, who approaches every project from capturing the colorful festival of Holi to photographing a snow leopard with an infectious level of giddiness. Unlike Netflix’s other high-definition docu-series like Cooked or Chef’s Table, the stories certainly play second fiddle to Tales by Light’s visuals, but they’re powerful enough to stand on their own.
It’s so easy to become overwhelmed by the day-to-day stressors of life. Tales by Light does a wonderful job reminding viewers in high definition and slow motion just how amazing the world can be. Whether you’re craving a mini streaming vacation or a powerful crash course on an art form you may not know much about, this Netflix acquisition has you covered.
