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Following four distinguished photographers at work on four very different photo shoots, exploring both sides of the story: the process of photographing and of being photographed.

It seems like we're all photographers now, and never have more photographs been taken - events documented, lives snapped, moments frozen. With high quality cameras in most back pockets these days, it's been estimated that a trillion photographs will be taken this year.

What are we doing when we point a camera at something - and why?

In this series we get behind the lens, as we hear about the process and practice of professional photographers. What motivates them? What are they trying to capture? Which shots work best?

And, crucially, what do they think they're doing?

But as well as a programme about the photographer at work, it's also a programme about the photographer's subject - about the people and places being photographed, the world that the photographer is momentarily entering - and what it means to have a camera pointed at you.

The first programme features an extraordinary project spanning 3 decades of intimate family life. In 1987 Matthew Finn began photographing his mother, Jean, in their everyday Leeds family home. 30 years later, Matthew still travels to take photographs but, as we discover, human frailty is now testing the bond between mother and son.

Each programme will be accompanied by an on-line gallery of photographs.