Garry Winogrand...

wlewisiii said:
It must be the whole aesthetic of street shooting, but Winogrand is a photographer that I just do not get. As Pickett says, shoot millions of frames to get, maybe, 100? And leave behind you thousands of rolls you never even looked at? That's not photography, that's just OCD.

I'd rather spend a day looking through Friedlander or Arbus at the world.

William
Click to expand...

First of all... he's got hundreds and hundreds of photos in his various books... so he certainly didn't only have 100 good photos. Not to mention, I'm sure he had plenty of good photos that he never printed or bothered with.

Second, I'm sure Arbus and Friedlander (especially Friedlander) have shot an enormous amount of frames as well.

Third, many people here have rolls laying around that they haven't developed yet. The man died early... from cancer ... he most likely thought he was going to get to those rolls.

Finally... he had a lot more time to make those thousands of rolls than most of us do... it was his career.

c900f4e539c5db64e5dda9794ee1f627a1bc3552_large.jpg
 
Last edited:
He was shooting like a mad man every day and left 432,000 photos he never saw. I'm thinking he probably wasn't going to get to them in this lifetime. 🙂

Ah, to have the luxury of spending your days burning dozens of rolls of film you were never going to look at!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
For the point of argument, I would like to point out Nobuyoshi Araki. The man is known to top 50 rolls in a day sometimes, has published more than 300 books, and having just turned 70 is still going with more passion, energy, and enthusiasm than almost any other photographer out there of any age.

I fail to see this as a bad thing. Nor can I see all the images made by Winogrand that he never saw as time or resources ill-spent. If you are passionate about something and have the opportunity to do it as much as you were able, why not do it like the world's on fire and the only way to put it out is to do your thing like mad?
 
Good point, Araki-san has to be right up there with Winogrand with total images made in his lifetime. However, I guess Araki has always done many different types of photography... where as Winogrand is known for one style.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
He was shooting like a mad man every day and left 432,000 photos he never saw. I'm thinking he probably wasn't going to get to them in this lifetime. 🙂

Ah, to have the luxury of spending your days burning dozens of rolls of film you were never going to look at!
Click to expand...


You're kidding, right? Would you really wish that on yourself? Burning rolls of film, knowing (either consciously or intuitively/subliminally) that you were going to die soon?
 
jsrockit said:
Good point, Araki-san has to be right up there with Winogrand with total images made in his lifetime. However, I guess Araki has always done many different types of photography... where as Winogrand is known for one style.
Click to expand...

That is very true. Araki's range is pretty extraordinary.

FrankS said:
You're kidding, right? Would you really wish that on yourself? Burning rolls of film, knowing (either consciously or intuitively/subliminally) that you were going to die soon?
Click to expand...

I can't think of any other way I'd rather spend my last days.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
He was shooting like a mad man every day and left 432,000 photos he never saw. I'm thinking he probably wasn't going to get to them in this lifetime. 🙂

Ah, to have the luxury of spending your days burning dozens of rolls of film you were never going to look at!
Click to expand...

423,000 !?! 😱

And there's me getting stressed I have 7 films awaiting processing. 😱 😀
 
I dig his photography.
I like his “I photograph where I am” quote.
Given his output, mayhap ‘ I photograph when I’m awake’ woulda worked as well. 🙄
 
For me at least the act of "seeing" and "taking" the photo is not always tied to looking at the result.

I am struck by his enjoyment and carefree attitude as he shoots. I can only hope to get that much enjoyment from my shooting.
 
Listening to the way Winogrand reacted to various questions reminds me of Lou Reed in a lot of ways. Not a lot of tolerance or patience but plenty of self conviction!

It's fun to watch him working the streets and I liked his comment about never shooting from the hip ... always through the viewfinder. I have absolutely no time for street shots done from the hip ... if you didn't see it through the viewfinder when you shot it ... it's not a photograph in my book!
 
Keith said:
Listening to the way Winogrand reacted to various questions reminds me of Lou Reed in a lot of ways. Not a lot of tolerance or patience but plenty of self conviction!

It's fun to watch him working the streets and I liked his comment about never shooting from the hip ... always through the viewfinder. I have absolutely no time for street shots done from the hip ... if you didn't see it through the viewfinder when you shot it ... it's not a photograph in my book!
Click to expand...


You mean all those beautiful photographs I've made with finderless cameras, are not even photographs? I'm not sure about you and me, but for sure Garry was wrong... 😀

Cheers,

Juan
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
[/B]

You mean all those beautiful photographs I've made with finderless cameras, are not even photographs? I'm not sure about you and me, but for sure Garry was wrong... 😀

Cheers,

Juan
Click to expand...


I think with wider lenses it's an option but not one I personally would take ... but for you it's ok obviously so who am I to tell you how you should photograph! 😀

What bugs me is when I see street shots in the gallery that are all from the hip ... repeatedly from one individual. We perceive the world from eye level in the street and that's the way I want it transmitted to me via a photograph.

I still think Winogrand was correct in his opinion about this!
 
Keith said:
I think with wider lenses it's an option but not one I personally would take ... but for you it's ok obviously so who am I to tell you how you should photograph! 😀

What bugs me is when I see street shots in the gallery that are all from the hip ... repeatedly from one individual. We perceive the world from eye level in the street and that's the way I want it transmitted to me via a photograph.

I still think Winogrand was correct in his opinion about this!
Click to expand...

Not even when using any finder to compose, eye level is a stone-Moses-God law... 😛 Even less when being in front of an interesting scene with a finderless camera, or when the situation requires not using the camera at eye level: respect for subjects, risk for the photographer, etc...

And of course Garry did it lots of times... He was just answering to someone having fun at him... 😀

Cheers,

Juan
 
Definitely one of my favorite photographer, and the only collector book I own is from him.
Yet after watching and reading a lot about him, I came to the conclusion that he liked to talk a lot and was a bit full of s... at times.
 
I never said it was a law that others needed to follow ... I said it was my personal preference.

if you didn't see it through the viewfinder when you shot it ... it's not a photograph in my book!
Click to expand...

As usual Juan ... ten out of ten for eloquence but less for observation and comprehension! :angel:
 
Keith said:
I never said it was a law that others needed to follow ... I said it was my personal preference.



As usual Juan ... ten out of ten for eloquence but less for observation and comprehension! :angel:
Click to expand...

As always Keith, what matters is the quality of the images Keith, Garry or Juan can get without looking through the finder as a rule always... They can be great too! You shouldn't deny yourself those possible images...

Comprehension is what I show when shooting even without using the finder... Garry's words are another thing I show comprehension for... I've seen him on video shooting without using the finder... I respect your opinion, though...

Cheers,

Juan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom