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sean reid and street photography


smokysun

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hi sean,

 

very interesting photo days in the sf-bay area.

 

made it to the two leica stores in the city. discount cameras on kearny had the m8 and d3 in a box but wouldn't open them. lots of used stuff, but not a real camera store. the other, adolph gasser used new cameras Page on second street the real old-fashioned mccoy. they said the m8 selling like hotcakes, that they come in and go out immediately so, for all the talk, looks like leica will have a good quarter. people complain, then buy!

 

bought some 20 used and bargain photo books. for the true photographer as hero look at Lettizia Battaglia. a mafia opponent in sicily. the genuine article.

 

and the 'the spirit of family' by al and tipper gore a real picture of american family life, the full spectrum, lots of famous photographers like lee friedlander included. shows the difficult sides as well as the positive. got it for four dollars.

 

i just don't think i'm a street photographer! loved plunging into the tourist crowds at the ferry building yesterday and i do take pics with my mind's eye. but strangers don't inspire me otherwise. looks like it has to be my own town's locals in a festive situation.

 

may be ending today at sf moma: 'mexico as muse' alternate prints by edward weston and tina modotti. well worth a visit.

 

 

hi vic,

 

sorry i've been out of the loop. yes, too many cameras make for too many choices. yet i enjoyed trying the 10d canon yesterday. as sean said, it's incredibly quiet for a dslr. made my 20d sound like a real cannon!

 

more and more i'm taking your advice and focusing on directing in pics. i can organize objects (or find them as the one below in the house where i'm house-sitting). dance and theater i'm in my element. i have picked up a sigma 20 1.8 which i'm hoping will get me in a lot closer. i'll keep you posted.

 

thanks again for your insights. i find your responses extremely valuable. and i'm not just listening. i'm putting things into practice.

 

wayne

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Hi Wayne,

 

I hear the same about M8 sales. As for interacting with your subjects...if you're finding that to be your thing then why fight it? Do what comes naturally.

 

Happy New Year and all the best,

 

Sean

 

 

hi sean,

 

that's a very good question! two answers, i suppose.

 

one. i like looking at street photography more than any other kind. the good stuff has the drama of everyday life. guess i'd like to be able to do it. (say, 'amazon' by alex web or a book i just got, the last barnack prize winner, 'paradiso' by lorenzo castore.)

 

two. i know success comes from doing what we're good at and getting better and better. unfortunately, most of us bored by what we can already do well and try to raise our limitations. alas, as willy mays, the ballplayer said, ' i go with my strengths and forget my weaknesses.' like many, i suspect, i get obsessed with the latter and forget the former.

 

being around a lot of student and teacher art, and looking at masterpieces of any genre, i realize the last depend upon the absolute authority of their creators. i believe you get this by perfecting what talent you already have, not pursuing sidelines where you are weak.

 

well, you ask, what is the foundation of authority? it's when you experience a certainty about something you love and do. somehow you are centered and firm in the conviction. in other aspects of your life you can be a wuss, but not in your art.

 

long answers for a short question.

 

hope you're having great holidays and a happy new year to you.

 

wayne

 

'everybody has talent, few have persistence.' oscar wilde

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Great holidays, thanks, just home after lots of travelling. Hope the same was true for you.

 

There are no absolute rules in this so do the kind of work you really want to do...whatever that might be. A general response, I realize, but I think it's true. Maybe you want to keep after what doesn't come naturally until you can do it. If so, ignore, my previous post above. Above all, I suggest that you trust your gut and don't over-think. If you don't know what your gut is telling you, keep shooting all kinds of things and all kinds of ways until your gut knocks on your door with a message.

 

There are many kinds of artistic work that I admire but would not choose to do myself.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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  • 4 weeks later...

hi sean,

 

i haven't stopped theorizing! but have been shooting a lot. and reading.

 

i thought i'd let the thread rest awhile. other people have been making comments on street stuff with the m8. watched a video bill moyers made with gary winogrand in 1982. you see gary working the street. he smiles a lot. waves his leica around in front of his face like a wand to hypnotize or distract people and shoots incredibly fast. (you see him putting hundreds of undeveloped rolls in a drawer). he has the leica in one hand, strap around the wrist, raising and lowering it fast, as michael decribed in his article.

 

winogrand also a theme in a wonderful book full of short interviews, tips, education, etc. i ran across it at barnes & noble:

 

Amazon.com: The Education of a Photographer: Books: Charles H. Traub,Steven Heller,Adam B. Bell

 

i can't recommend this book highly enough. for example, one short essay describes william klein at work. very much in his subjects' faces and they perform for him. a very different style.

 

another book follows up on what many, many teacher photographers have suggested:

 

Amazon.com: Photo Projects: Plan and Publish Your Photography - in Print and on the Internet: Books: Chris Dickie

 

with wonderful examples of what people have done. also lots of resources for making your own book, something we've discussed before.

 

the most interesting comments lately came from the german artist wolfgang tillmans on the dvd 'contacts.3'. he said he wanted to picture what united us and not what divided us. also, in portraits he wanted a moment where the sitter showed both fragility and strength. i've sent for his exhibition catalogue from the tate gallery:

 

Amazon.com: Wolfgang Tillmans: If One Thing Matters, Everything Matters: Books: Wolfgang Tillmans

 

i do believe we'll make the best kind of photos according to what we like to look at from others.

 

anyway, here's to floundering toward the future. iconic images are few, the photographers many.

 

are you going to do any more general (rather than technical) essays?

 

wayne

 

ps. it's great having a real wide-angle lens. started a new project documenting our renovated town square.

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  • 1 year later...
Guest malland

Yes, Imants, these are all interesting threads and it's somewhat ironic, really, that they should be on a hardware-obsessed forum. But the trouble is that discussion on photography forums that emphasize art, as well as pictures posted, are usually pompous and pretentious, Art-with-a-capital-A. So, I guess one just has to wait for discussions like these to materialise on forums such as this one, but I haven't seen any lately. Maybe it's better just to take pictures...

 

—Mitch/Bangkok

Flickr: Mitch Alland's Photostream

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These are pretty old threads the lack of them has compounded since the advent of the m8 and things haven't recovered, probably never will go back to this type of thread.

 

The Photo Forum is down to the "pat on back" level, nice good etc.

 

The Digital Post Processing Forum seems a bit still born, with most posts just technical in nature and going nowhere in particular.

 

Wolfgang Tillmans work is worth a look a good look

Amazon.com: Wolfgang Tillmans: Books

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These are pretty old threads the lack of them has compounded since the advent of the m8 and things haven't recovered, probably never will go back to this type of thread.

 

Hi Imants,

 

I think these kinds of threads will come back any time there are enough people are interested in them to contribute. I don't think changes in cameras, etc. will change their prevalence much one way or another.

 

In other words, whenever we want to talk about pictures rather than cameras...

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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... it will be hard on the Leica site here....................... another book worth the look but I think it is out of print from the Tate "cattledog" Storylines Robert Frank

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... it will be hard on the Leica site here....................... another book worth the look but I think it is out of print from the Tate "cattledog" Storylines Robert Frank

 

Yes, anything that Robert Frank has put together himself is worth looking at again and again, I agree. also: "Moving Out" "New York to Nova Scotia"...

 

Cheers,

 

S

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hi sean,

i do think the atmosphere is different, since there is a protected feeling at a wedding.

 

Hi Wayne (if you're still around),

 

Over the past couple of years, many of my pictures have been of people in and near water - beaches especially. We're different when we're on the beach, in the water, swimming, diving... We move differently and the expressions of our emotions are often freer (and more varied from person to person)...

 

This subject, for me, has been one of the most interesting I've yet photographed.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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I saw a copy the other day , not sure how freely it is available. Itwas interesting to read the threads... I sure have moved on in different directions since then

etroukoIIV

 

Yes, you have and it's interesting. Has Robert Frank's later work (especially all the combinations of text on pictures) influenced you?

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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No but I wish it did,.................I have been chasing Storylines for a while but can't get a copy, I have it on order sooner or later a used copy will crop up.

 

I have seen very little of Robert Frank's work, I am even late in viewing Herzog and Leiter. I own A Kind of Rapture by Bergman and City of Shadows http://shop.hht.net.au/site/Home/Catalogue.aspx?productid=e5ebe56a7a9ed9a6 and that's about it with photography books.

I am watching Stranger Than Paradise as background scanning noise , ome nice sequences there (bnw movie)

 

 

Generally I just make up stuff and think very little of it............. after all it's just stuff.

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No but I wish it did,.................I have been chasing Storylines for a while but can't get a copy, I have it on order sooner or later a used copy will crop up.

 

I have seen very little of Robert Frank's work, I am even late in viewing Herzog and Leiter. I own A Kind of Rapture by Bergman and City of Shadows http://shop.hht.net.au/site/Home/Catalogue.aspx?productid=e5ebe56a7a9ed9a6 and that's about it with photography books.

I am watching Stranger Than Paradise as background scanning noise , ome nice sequences there (bnw movie)

 

 

Generally I just make up stuff and think very little of it............. after all it's just stuff.

 

Hi Imants,

 

In that case, I think you might want to also track down "Moving Out", "The Lines of My Hand" and "New York to Nova Scotia". After doing what he needed to do with "The Americans" he moved away from straight photography and into areas that I think might interest you a lot.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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