Here are the mini-interviews All of these people sum up the reasons I continue to say that photojournalism is the highest form of the art of photography – the one unique thing that still photography does that no other medium does. They also sum up the reasons I so detest what I used to do – commercial fashion. No matter what you shoot and why I guarantee you these people will help you and you will not regret spending the few minutes.

The first guy – Steve Christo is probably the photographer that I agree with everything he says and identify with the most, even though he shoots mostly sports – something i have no interest in. The second photographer – Brendon Esposito is spot on – even thought his opening contradictory comments are hopelessly false, the reason they are contradictory is a quintessential truth all thoughtful photographers wrestle with. All of them shoot amazingly powerful images and there are some themes that they ALL say – either implicitly or explicitly. Get close to your subjects if at all possible, both physically and psychologically (note focal lengths used for the best stuff). Really great images are really really hard to make and they have NOTHING to do with resolution, etc, etc, etc. Even being talented, dedicated, and doing it every single day for decades – they claim only a handful of really great images.

Please – watch and listen to this. A very rare moment when some people who know their stuff drop the pomp, and the bullshit, and provide invaluable photographic education.

RB

I was going to write a really insightful but non-exciting soliloquy  about all of the wonderful new Adobe stuff like CS5 and LR3 but to tell you the truth I am not that excited about it. Don’t get me wrong I will eventually upgrade to CS5 just for the 64bit-ness. Instead I am going to write a little about inspiration. Again. Not for the purpose of inspiring you with my thoughts and experiences but more to help fellow photographers to find there own method. Yes – method. That might seem a little bit contrary to the whole notion of inspiration and it sort of is but  if you are going to be successful in your own artistic endeavors you are going to need a process.

Instead of trying to express some detailed complete and holistic recipe I’ll just share some snippets of things I do – religiously – and where they lead me. I’ll try to keep this short but with enough of my own thought process so that hopefully it will be a little more than the bottom line of “write your ideas and inspirations down” – always, without fail and do it immediately. Everyone knows this, right? Why do so few people do it? My guess is that they feel either stupid doing it, the particular emotion, feeling, etc has nothing to do with the particular thing they are working on or thinking about right now, or they don’t think it is useful. Trust me, even if 80% turns out to be useless. The 20% will be useful. If not now, it will be down the road, even if only to lead you somewhere else in your thinking. Write down anything, just a few words will do, reflect on it a little the next day, write down some more if something crosses your mind. It doesn’t have to stand on it’s own, it doesn’t have to be anything. It can be sterile and boring or poetic. Doesn’t matter.

The other night I was outside at about 10pm and got a surge of electricity, pangs of anxiety. Not the bad kind – the good kind. The rock star taking the stage kind with all the associated adrenaline fueled restlessness that comes with it. Why? The endless promise and possibilities of a new summer. So what did I write down? Embarrassingly enough – just a couple of words and phrases describing my surroundings – the things my physical senses told me about.

“Blue velvet sky with countless stars”, “soft silvery moonlight”, “fireflies”, “smell of honeysuckle”, “music”, “laughter of post adolescent teenage girls”, “warm glow of lights through open windows”. That’s it. The next day I read those things and thought a little bit about why those things exerted such power on me. Guess what all of a sudden a late teenage summer tradition hit me like a train. I wrote it all down, everything I could think of. To spare you the recitation of the semi-coherent short story that was the final result of my scribblings I’ll just summarize the event that I wrote down.

In the way back time in the area I grew up in, a well-to-do, very republican suburb most parents and younger siblings would disappear for large portions of the summer. Right down the road from me in a place called Rose Tree there were two sisters about my age that would have parties at least once a week. Dozens of girls from the all girls prep school that they attended and boys from all over the place. The road they lived on was wooded and infested with honeysuckle – so powerful you could hardly breath. They lived in a stone english manor style house typical for the neighborhood with a long stone drive lined with ancient elm trees and rose gardens. Walking down the drive towards the house you could hear the music coming from the patio on the back lawn and see a few of the people spilling out the sides. Over the music and chatter you could hear the song of young women’s laughter. The only light was that from the interior spilling out through the open windows and the moon on perfect – clear June nights. Hell I even wrote about how the giant weeping willow tree down by the stream at the back of the lawn looked and sounded.

I left out all of my feeble attempts to capture how that makes me feel, or things I remember saying to my friends walking up that drive with me on various occasions but I wrote them down anyway. Why? Am I working on some sort of summer image project? Nope but… I can personally pull about 100 image ideas directly from those memories and 1000 more ideas from my memories of how people looked, expressions, gestures, relationships, etc., etc. If not next week then a year from now. I have no idea where or what will become of the 15minutes I spent writing all of it down. The 30 seconds when it hit me or the balance when reflecting on it. Based on previous experience the absolute least it will do is paint me a picture on demand for anything related so that I can use it to inspire gesture or expression, the most it will do is give me a direct narrative for something I actually produce.

I hope that all of that was not a complete waste of time. I thought some of you t just starting to develop your own creative process will get some insight into a small part of mine. The bottom line that I mentioned at the beginning about writing everything down is on point, ideas, circumstances, memories, triggers, details – they all matter when producing a narrative of any type. Maybe more importantly is trying to grasp at the essence of things that evoke a strong reaction in you. You will forget the nuances if you don’t process them and the nuances and subtleties are what it is all about.

More later.

RB

Helmut Newton is one of the few successful commercial photographers that blended his own vision for his art with a commercial commodity with no compromise. You either wanted Newton for your look or you didn’t. If all you see is fantastically sexy women and men in some gorgeous settings that anyone could shoot you are missing Helmut Newton in a big big way. This guy is fantastically unimaginably good.

Take an in depth look at his work. Again, a book is way better than just surfing the web for acouple of his more well known images. They are good but they are not even close to being comprehensive or even representative of is vast body of personal, art, and commercial work. Buy a book or six, schedule yourself a few hours on the weekend with a nice bottle of wine and really take some time so see what is going on with this guy’s images. There is of course the initial wow but what makes this guy so so very good is the depth and complexity of his work with such seemingly simple compositions.

I don’t think I have seen a Helmut Newton image that does not exude  lavishness, decadence, privvy, sexuality, and have at least a subtext of fetishistic polarities – pain, pleasure, want, desire, lust, love, tender, harsh. Amazing.

Holy crap his stuff has me sounding like a blabbering art critic or something. I probably own more Helmut Newton monographs than any other photographer. One of my heros.

Enjoy

RB

If you make photographs and this guys images do not speak to you and say – “you suck” get better. Here is your wake up call. Oh they speak to everyone in other ways as well but deep down you know you suck when you see this guy’s stuff. You may be okay – you may even be acceptable at wrapping your mediocre images in artifice to distract people but… As a photographer you suck. If you don’t think you need to get better go see a Salgado exhibit.

Your first reaction will be to forget you are a photographer and these are photographs – you will be transported to another plane where none of that stuff matters. After you leave you will be inspired to get better. A lot better. If you think you are good at making images now – go to an exhibit.

Sort of reminds me of a story about Eric Clapton – He cried and swore to give up guitar playing after hearing Hendrix for the first time. He got it together and got better.

Enjoy.

RB

Ps. If you think you need a better camera this should be your answer. If you think the biggest issue in your images is that god damn noise when you shoot at 6400 – again this is your answer to how important all that bullshit is.

As a side note – I did not notice how heavily influenced a lot of my composition, lighting and overall style was influenced by Horst until I was in my mid-thrities. As I look back now (and as I discovered then) it is glaringly obvious that I was quite influenced by my exposure to Horst. Take a look – I do not think it will be a waste of time no matter what your genre or medium is.

Enjoy.

RB

Here is a brief story about how I found Irving Penn. Let’s suffice to say I was not “educated” on the who’s who in the photographic elite of all time – I am now, just not way back. When I was first shooting seriously in my 20′s I had never heard of Irving Penn. I met him on a train as a young, clueless kid – I met him because he sat down at a table where I had  a bunch of portraits I had made the week before spread out in front of me making notes on them with a grease pencil and sorting them into a couple of different piles. He asked me what I was doing and I said a couple of patronizing words to sort of brush off this old guy – I was frustrated and busy and did not feel like getting into a stupid conversation about “what kind of camera” I used or anything. I wasn’t mean or abrasive or ignorant. I quite literally told him that I was frustrated and was concentrating on my edits using a couple additional words.

Long story short – He lingered for a few moments, asked if he could look at one of the prints I had made some notes on, I said yes. He picked it up and looked at it. Put it down gently and said “You have a good eye – don’t get so frustrated with the technical stuff”. Excused himself, gave me his card and told me to look him up when I was in town.

I looked him up when I got home from that trip – that is how I found out who Irving Penn was. A week LATER. I never did “look him up” in the other sense he meant – I was far too embarrassed at my ignorance.

RB

The really great thing about this book is the captions on all of the photographs. They are open, truthful without a hint of pretense. It is almost like you are sitting down having a candid private conversation with Sieff – one that he would have with a trusted friend. I guess that is what struck me about this particular book. The photographs he choose and the personal captions are truly unique from a photographer of this calibre.

Here are just two random examples of what I am talking about:

The Duchess of Windsor, Paris 1953

“This is a portrait commissioned by ‘Elle’. Having no idea what to do with the good woman, I had her go deeper and deeper under the branches of this tree, hoping against hope that she would disappear altogether.”

Dressing room at Guy Laroche, Paris 1957

“Today models where tights rather than girdles….(more). Pity, there was something moving about the elastic marks…(more)”

This is the book I am talking about.
Jeanloup Sieff: 40 Years of Photography (Multilingual Edition)

RB

I find Jeanloup Sieff’s images as fresh today as the moment I saw the first one that knocked my socks off. You can see his official website here but like a lot of photographer sites, it is a pain in the ass and is not at all comprehensive of his work. This guy shot for a long long time and is usually recognizable at first glance, his work is diverse and extremely vast. You may be better off just using google image for Jeanloup Sieff.

One more thing – like a lot of fantastic work you have to see the prints – really. Even a well done book on good paper will leave your jaw on the floor.

Enough words – Enjoy!

RB

The thing that struck me today is that during those conversations we almost inevitably also discuss other photographers, and their photographs as sources of inspiration or aspiration. I am extremely opinionated on this – in terms of my favorites. I respect the work of other photographers as long as it is clear that there was a lot of work put into the work and some degree of competency in their handling of the medium – even if I don’t find it my cup of tea aesthetically.

That brings me to the new series of posts. I have studied the medium and some of it’s rock stars, long time artists, lesser know practitioners, for a long time. Since the early 70′s. Although I have no formal historical education in the subject I can tell you that I have been absorbed and captivated by work throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. I voraciously consumed everything I could get my hands on. I studied it intently. I have lived with it. Bought countless books of work. Visited museums that allowed access to the actual prints.I thought I might share a couple of photographers that I have really found lasting inspiration from.

There is no strict criteria that I am basing this on. No point system. The genre, treatment, style, and time period may be all over the map. I will present them in no particular order or historical relationship or relevance. Just random bits to be enjoyed, admired, or not. Hey some people are into sports – they like to discuss and debate various games and players throughout history. I am a photography nut so consider this a conversation on the greatest of all time. It is an open discussion so feel free to comment. The nice thing about being a photography nut rather than an avid sports fan is you and I can actually learn something to apply to our craft  a little more directly than a discussion on Rocky Marciano’s right hand technique.

If I at first seem to only talk about old fashioned fuddy-duddy photographers fear not. I like a lot of modern photographers work as well. I will tell you that the one and only criteria that I will apply is that it has to last. So I probably won’t talk a lot about work done by anyone in the last 5 years. I think 5 years is a good criteria to even be able to guess if I will feel the same way about it forever – or at least a long time. I can say this with my own photographs so I do not feel too bad about applying it to other photographers as well.

To kick this off I will present a photographer that doesn’t get a lot of air time like some of the cliche household name photographers but certainly deserves a look see. If you shoot people you can learn a lot from this guy’s photographs. I stumbled across a book that I have containing his photographs while looking for a print that I made on a specific Agfa paper to compare to my new paper discovery of the month.

In all his glory – this guy even has his own website so I have to do not much to point you to his work. Take a look at Patrick Demarchelier’s stuff. Don’t be to quick when you go through it – take some time. I know that is really hard to do on the web. If you like it look for a used book on Amazon for a couple of bucks. The ones I have are very nicely printed and will give you are really good feel for how good his work is (unlike the web).

Enjoy.

RB
Ps. I did pick someone relatively current so when I pick some others you won’t think I am just an old fuddy duddy stuck in in the 20th century

If you love photography and have not studied these guys work you really should. A well made book is okay – better than the web but the only way to really experience the breathtaking beauty of the work is to see the real prints. If you are anywhere close to a venue that will allow you to see them I implore you to make the effort. Way back in the day you could schedule time at the National Gallery in Washington DC and actually go downstairs and pull the prints for study up close – not behind glass. I don’t know if you can still do that but if you can please do so, you owe it to yourself. I spent a week in washington doing this and it change the way I see and think forever. Best of all it is free and the viewing rooms are private – spend all the time you like.

To get a feel for the man look at his work and read these quotes – all of them. He is not extremely verbose but these quotes are all very connected in a subtle way – the same way as his work.

Without further delay… here are some EW photographs.

Of course you have all seen the peppers but they are fantastic -

And the shells – by the way EW was not the first to do the shells by a longshot – It was a favorite subject of still life since the 1890′s by lots of photographers.

But not like this he definitely made them his own – I have seen an identical composition by a british photographer to the above but the treatment of tonal ranges was inspired completely unlike the other guy.

EW did more than just peppers – all of is vegetable stuff was awesome.

Fan-f’ing-tastic. He even did landscapes.

His range of subject matter is not even scratched here, some of the images he did of things like toilets and bedpans were stunning – you have to see the prints to really appreciate them. I think a lot of them were generated by a debate between Weston and a group of  ”form follows function” devotes that he thought was idiotic – Weston’s aesthetic was much more of form is form.

Next time you feel like there is nothing to shoot go shoot a fantastically gorgeous image of your toilet, or some vegetables in your icebox. If you don’t think it’s tough try to reproduce somethings like this – trust me it is more than a couple of minutes worth of work.

Hope you enjoyed.

RB