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

Says David du Chemin, in “Bruce Gilden – Artist or Thug?": "What people are reacting to, is his modus operandi."

Just the same again... People who like him, consider him a figure, a rough man, and not necessarily care about his photographs.

Cheers,

Juan
 
I've read a couple of times he's being considered lately a performance artist more than a photographer... I bet he likes it... That's a better place for him. Again, my opinion,

Cheers,

Juan
 
I was in an elevator with Matthew Broderick a few years ago at my job, I could not remember his name, so I called him Ferris.. He laughed..
 
finguanzo said:
I was in an elevator with Matthew Broderick a few years ago at my job, I could not remember his name, so I called him Ferris.. He laughed..
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I saw him at a sushi joint in Omaha (that used to be an original IHOP, no less) when he was filming Election. Which was nice. ;)
 
Talking of Magnum photographers, Martin Parr is giving a 2 hour talk/show tonight in Bristol, England @ 19:30 (Sold out though sorry!) Really looking forward to seeing him. :)

A lot of people, mainly his peers, don't like him or his work much either. So much jealousy in the photographic world amongst each other it seems (especially after watching the doc last night on Robert King on BBC4 - nice to see him using an M6 in Russia too!) which is pretty sad really, as a photographer if you like an artists work fine, if you don't fine also but some pros who don't see or don't get seem to want to snipe which is all very childish really.
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
I've read a couple of times he's being considered lately a performance artist more than a photographer... I bet he likes it... That's a better place for him. Again, my opinion,

Cheers,

Juan
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Such comments always remind me of that Morrissey song, We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. I find it amusing that when there's a thread on cameras or gear, we always feel the love. When there's a thread on photographers, there's always a tendency to diss their work.


I prefer James Ravilious's photos to those of Gilden. But Gilden is making a living at photography, has his own aesthetic, his own interpretation of the world, and gets my respect for that alone.
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Says David du Chemin, in “Bruce Gilden – Artist or Thug?": "What people are reacting to, is his modus operandi."

Just the same again... People who like him, consider him a figure, a rough man, and not necessarily care about his photographs.

Cheers,

Juan
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I respectfully ask not to make unfounded assumption why I or others like Gilden's work. I, for one, couldn't care less about him as a person or care about his work methods/ethics. I do care a lot about his photographs though.
 
If you must you can make unfounded assumptions about why I like him, because I like everything about him including his work :p
 
Whenever I see a street photographer with Gilden's approach in a youtube clip I have to wonder about people's reactions to having a camera with a flash shoved in their faces when there's obviously someone else recording footage of the process via video.

Those who are judging his subject's reactions by watching these clips are not seeing the reality of what he's doing IMO!
 
I ran into Gilden last April in the Times Square area. On my birthday of all days, what a present. I saw him walking in my direction on 7th ave. I believe. I was like "omg, that's Bruce Gilden", I felt like a teenage girl at a concert. I yelled his name out and he stopped to talk for a bit. I showed him my Leica and the first thing he said to me was "Where is your flash?" hehehe. He was telling me about his recent trip down to Alabama or Mississippi where he was photographing the KKK or something.
He was more than willing to chat with me and was quite talkative indeed. I showed him a few photos I had on the back of my business cards. Guess what his response was? You need to get closer :D
I got a nice snap of him. It's in the gallery here and on my flickr site if anybody wants to see it. I actually sent it to Magnum and received an email from Mr. Gilden himself, thanking me for the photo. Sweet!
 
Thanks for posting the link. It's always great to see how other photographers work. And to see them working is a bonus. What I got out of the clip is that Bruce Gildens has a real passion for shooting and hell of an eye "characters". It takes guts to stick a camera in to someone's face. I think it's easy to judge his "style" but considering one must always consider there body of work before categorizing a photographer as this or that. I must say that this event was quite a target rich environment for strange looking people. And from personal experience get up "close and personal" and shooting first and asking question later is effective although not always appreciated but the subjects. When you invade a persons personal space and shove a camera in there face it's an adrenaline rush. Just being that close , the very proximity between you and you subject effects the moment in a very meaning full way , as it interjects you into the frame even though your not the subject.

Anyways Im grateful to see Bruce Gildens work and plan on checking out the other u-tube links.

Gregory












Gregory
 
I'm really trying to be a bit joshing here rather than hurtful, so I hope it's taken that way. But I was really enjoying reading everyone's responses - and favorite YouTube clips of Gilden in rich form. And then would come one of Juan's rather ponderous posts.

It sort of reminded me of, you know, the Rocky Horror Picture Show when the narrator, that guy with no neck, comes on the screen to pontificate on the action and everyone in the audience starts shouting out, "Boooooring!"

I mean, photography is about life and love and movement. Obviously Gilden is in love with all those. So lighten up! Enjoy his pix, and his style - or not. But if you're gonna diss his work, at least be *funny* - please! We'll take you more seriously.
 
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