David Burnett... really remarkable...

I have the privilege of knowing Dave. Great guy & great photojournalist. He's been using medium & large format for both assignments & personal work for years & gave a nice talk about large format shooting for the Phillips Collection's show on Pictorialism last fall (http://www.wornmagazine.com/2010/10/truthbeauty-phillips-collection/#more-3800).

I met him via an informal, but august group of film (& plate) shooters called the Bokeh Vista Social Club, most of whom shoot large format. I'm a member, but I think mostly because of my collection of classic cameras. Meetings consist of mainly of talking photography & messing around w/cameras while eating barbecue & drinking beer. Dave is the only person I've ever met who actually recognized my Bell & Howell Foton (he remembered a sports photographer who used 1 back in the '60s).

Sadly, he's not in DC as often as he used to be. Not as many assignments down here & he & his wife sold their place in Arlington to consolidate everything in NYC. The last time we chatted was @ Look3.

Carterofmars said:
This is my favorite contemporary 4x5 photog... is anyone familiar and would care to post opinions on Burnett?

http://www.davidburnett.com/portfolio.html

Thanks...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
There is a good video about him talking about the different cameras he uses. It's called "What's In the Bag", it might be a series of interviews but I have only seen the one with DB. Probably it's on Youtube, I forget where I found it. He talks about Holga, Speed Graphic with Aero Ektar & some digital stuff.
 
furcafe said:
I have the privilege of knowing Dave. Great guy & great photojournalist. He's been using medium & large format for both assignments & personal work for years & gave a nice talk about large format shooting for the Phillips Collection's show on Pictorialism last fall (http://www.wornmagazine.com/2010/10/truthbeauty-phillips-collection/#more-3800).

I met him via an informal, but august group of film (& plate) shooters called the Bokeh Vista Social Club, most of whom shoot large format. I'm a member, but I think mostly because of my collection of classic cameras. Meetings consist of mainly of talking photography & messing around w/cameras while eating barbecue & drinking beer. Dave is the only person I've ever met who actually recognized my Bell & Howell Foton (he remembered a sports photographer who used 1 back in the '60s).

Sadly, he's not in DC as often as he used to be. Not as many assignments down here & he & his wife sold their place in Arlington to consolidate everything in NYC. The last time we chatted was @ Look3.
Click to expand...

I have a little back and forth with him via eMail discussing LF Graphics and his images and techniques. I'm pretty sure I saw him (before I knew about him) in Columbus circle about a two years ago.

Anyway, the guy seems really down to earth from an interview I've read, and his work is really interesting.

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2010/07/in-the-bag-with-photographer-david-burnett.html
 
Last edited:
He's totally down to earth. Shared some Elijah Craig bourbon from a friend's flask w/him @ Look3 while we chatted. His parting words: "Thanks for the juice, man."

Carterofmars said:
I have a little back and forth with him via eMail discussing LF Graphics and his images and techniques. I'm pretty sure I saw him (before I knew about him) in Columbus circle about a two years ago.

Anyway, the guy seems really down to earth from an interview I've read, and his work is really interesting.

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2010/07/in-the-bag-with-photographer-david-burnett.html
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
furcafe said:
He's totally down to earth. Shared some Elijah Craig bourbon from a flask w/him @ Look3 while we chatted. His parting words: "Thanks for the juice, man."
Click to expand...

A little bourbon and camera action with Burnett. How great is that!

Some people lead the charmed life. Let me know if you guys ever meet up in NYC.
 
Will do. The man has great stories about all the great photojournalists of the last 50 years (from Eisenstadt to Adams, etc., etc.).

Carterofmars said:
A little bourbon and camera action with Burnett. How great is that!

Some people lead the charmed life. Let me know if you guys ever meet up in NYC.
Click to expand...
 
Waiting for tanks passing by-Dec. 13, 1981

Waiting for tanks passing by-Dec. 13, 1981

DB was sent to Warsaw by US-government to document Polish Martial Law. That means they knew beforehand. Why i know this? Because a "wonderfully framed" front cover shwoing tanks was published in one of our magazines soon after Dec, 13, 1981.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsrecht_in_Polen_1981–1983
 
Last edited:
MichaelW said:
There is a good video about him talking about the different cameras he uses. It's called "What's In the Bag", it might be a series of interviews but I have only seen the one with DB. Probably it's on Youtube, I forget where I found it. He talks about Holga, Speed Graphic with Aero Ektar & some digital stuff.
Click to expand...

TY for that Michael.

Inspiring and potentially expensive. ;)

oh. here it is:
http://raw.tristanjud.com/2011/08/whats-in-the-bag-david-burnett/
 
MichaelW said:
There is a good video about him talking about the different cameras he uses. It's called "What's In the Bag", it might be a series of interviews but I have only seen the one with DB. Probably it's on Youtube, I forget where I found it. He talks about Holga, Speed Graphic with Aero Ektar & some digital stuff.
Click to expand...

Here's the video in question.

http://vimeo.com/13036394
 
Loved the D-Day selection.

Very poignant reminder of what it took to face evil in the world. The shot of the survivor sitting on the beach is priceless - akin to visiting Hell knowing the Devil was dead and gone.
 
Bumping this thread... David Burnett | Photographer

...just reading this... ...just wow! (from his blog): We're Just Sayin

Sunday, February 13, 2022​



Its crazy: i cant get past feb 10th without some reminder that this is the day, 51 years ago... (impossible to actually write that number and believe it could be me..) that I was fruitlessly trying to talk my way on to a Vietnamese Army helicopter, to get into Laos, at the outset of the Laos invasion (the attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail).... aware that all the vets (Larry Burrows(LIFE), Henri Huet (AP) and Kent Potter (UPI) were already on the bird... as well as a Newsweek guy and i was the lone major publication (TIME Mag) photo guy NOT on that bird -- feeling like a tyro, a twit, an incompetent jerk... someone who just couldn't cut it.... who couldn't figure it out ... and i walked away completely angry with myself as the chopper's engine started to whine...and away it went... to be shot down 20 minutes later, killing all of them. I think something in my soul has driven me to try and make the most of my professional life since then having been spared that awful fate at the time, but so aware that those guys on the chopper were the savviest, smartest, most experienced....and that even they were not beyond the fickle moment which fate was capable of dealing at any time.

I remember so well haggling in very strong terms with the Vietnamese Captain in charge of who got on that helo, and was on the edge of being insulting to him... when a reporter from TIME who i worked with, Jon Larsen, who had heard my unsuccessful pleas, came up to me and whispered, "you better get out of here for a while and cool down, or you ll NEVER get to Laos"

It was an hour later that I was walking by the underground Army HQ, when that same Captain came out, saw me, and said, in halting English, " I think maybe your friends shoot down, Laos." He said it twice then walked back inside. At that point no one knew any more than that, and I ended up just walking away, till I saw Hal, the LIFE reporter, who worked with Larry, walking towards me. I had seen him sitting next to Larry on the chopper as I'd walked away, earlier. "Boy am I glad to see you," i said. "They just told me they thought the helo was shot down, but here you are."

He said, "I didn't go. They did a hover test, the pilot said it was too heavy and someone would have to get off. Larry looked at me and said "LIFE is a picture magazine, you can come later."

At that point I didn't think I could do any more, and wandered off to shoot pictures around the base camp, eventually making my way back to the Quang Tri HQ that evening. I walked into the ongoing press briefing about 6pm, and Brian Barron, a blond toussel-haired earnest faced BBC reporter, turned to me and whispered "have you heard, Larrry Burrows was shot down in Laos...."

How quickly, how piercingly quickly, fifty one years can blow by.

We're just sayin'... David B

Posted by Iris&David at 4:54 PM No comments:
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom