Met Bruce Gilden this morning on the way to work...

Yes but if YOU saw a photo in the style I described on flickr you would think of Gilden...so there is my point. If anyone else who had never seen Gilden saw the style and asked they would instantly be directed to Gilden. In our little world of rangefinders Gilden is fairly known.
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Hi Bob, do you think no one amongst those of us posting, have seen previous Gilden's work?

At least in my case, those of us have...

He's done a lot of photography without flash, then the flash thing began slowly and in a less dramatic and public way, and I consider what I've been talking about here, his third stage. And if you consider he's not worried about his public figure, and if you consider he's a genious registering true characters, say it and I'll respect you... But it would be nice if members talk about Gilden instead of talking about those of you who...

Thank you, Bob!

Cheers,

Juan
Click to expand...

Juan: No reference to you, just a general reference to all of those who felt they understood Bruce Gilden's work from watching a few videos. His close up flash in your face gets the majority of the public attention. But he does a lot more than that. And he does other work very well. Now you seem to understand that but I am concerned many don't.

Disclosure: I am a fan of much of his work. Not so much the "flash in the face" photos but everything else he has done.
 
Bob Michaels said:
Juan: No reference to you, just a general reference to all of those who felt they understood Bruce Gilden's work from watching a few videos. His close up flash in your face gets the majority of the public attention. But he does a lot more than that. And he does other work very well. Now you seem to understand that but I am concerned many don't.

Disclosure: I am a fan of much of his work. Not so much the "flash in the face" photos but everything else he has done.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Bob... What I find fascinating about Gilden (whose images I saw for the first time just hours ago) is, a) how well he knows he'll become more and more famous because of his ways more than because of his shots... He's aggressive even indoors and even while speaking, because that's how he wants to appear for others who don't know him when they see him on video for the first time... Clearly he enjoys it and does it on purpose. And b) how well he's learned a white flashed face can make people consider he's got a style... I think he's getting what he wants... People don't care, as other members have said, if his shots say anything: they have enough because this shots look different... I think especially young people relate his behavior and his form to freedom, and that's the point from which his fans talk about him... That's why for me it's been interesting this thread. There are other threads that talk about photographers I don't like and those I've let them pass without interest... But Gilden's recent story is interesting because right now he's generating an interest no matter what he shoots. And photography, at least to me and a few others, is not what he's doing now... Good photography, I mean... Maybe he could do other great things but he's decided to go for the fame and the young fans for the last part of his work and life... He only knows...

But YMMV...

Cheers,

Juan
 
Last edited:
"He's aggressive even indoors and even while speaking, because that's how he wants to appear for others who don't know him when they see him on video for the first time... Clearly he enjoys it and does it on purpose."

You know, some people are just aggressive by nature. I know plenty of aggressive people/new yorkers, and they are not, photographers, making youtube videos, doing it for fame etc.. they just are, as Gilden might be..
or not..
 
Back to the original point of the thread.....

I met and had a nice conversation with Santiago Calatrava here in NY a few months ago.. Very nice guy..
Hes the architect that designed the new path station being built at world trade center..
 
Last edited:
See, that's why I asked about it in the past when I at first came across it on the web.
But there are other films, too, that are not available. I was used as an extra in a Bavarian film in Munich in 2007, but never saw that film. 😀 Not even sure if "my" scene was cut out or not.
 
I didn't like Gilden at first; then, I started to appreciate the diff way he shoots and his results. I didn't like Diane Arbus, either, until I started to look at more of her work and style. Same thing with Alec Soth. Some photogs one likes right off, while others require a learning curve to appreciate.
 
I don't think his photographs suck at all. I'm just concerned that the flash in the face method is a bit exploitative. It is one thing to do it to a healthy person who just gets annoyed, but that old gray haired lady he flashed in the face could've have croaked... 😉
 
Gilden & Model

Gilden & Model

Juan:
Gary Winogrand said any photographer should be honest in two ways. The first one is using the camera allowing it to do what it does best: reflecting reality. And the second one is reflecting that reality just the way it is. That can be said of Frank or Cartier-Bresson too...
Click to expand...

I think the person to compare Bruce Gilden to is Lisette Model.

Gilden -- he used to come into a shop I used to work in in New York -- used to like to talk about Lisette Model and how he tried to imitate her style for a long time. He even changed his lenses to try to get a certain look he saw in her photos. Later he said he learned that "she had done it all in the darkroom," turning the easel or something like that, something he was not prepared to do. But by then he was doing the sort of photography he liked.

Anyway I think his sort of artificiality to achieve an effect is similar to hers, especially the one of the Gambler on the Riviera (1937 at Google images: Lisette Model). Though of course, he liked to keep a philosophical foot in the school of street photography (and thus not violate it by cropping or manipulating in the darkroom). So his work is full of contradictions (like the faces of his "characters").

Model was also Diane Arbus' teacher. (Arbus' early street photography of 1963 is some of her best work, in my opinion.)

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