After a lifetime in domestic servitude, secretly documenting the streets of America through 100,000 photographs, Maier had died in great old-age, and in poverty - just on the edge of global recognition - never to know that her work would even receive a glimmer of praise, or understanding.via Vivian Maier: The Secret Photographer Gets A Retrospective In Amsterdam (*) by artlyst (*).
Yet he found ways to circumvent these restrictions - exploiting the color distortions in outdated film stock and embracing the unpredictable color rendition in emulsions available from some of the smaller manufacturers. His openness to the accidental, and willingness to forgo the photographer's legendary control, are crucial components of Leiter's ethos, anticipating precepts that remained exceptional, even among photography's avante-garde, until the advent of postmodernism in the 1970's.via SAUL LEITER Early Color (*) by Martin Harrison (*).
Saul’s greatest lesson was to believe in yourself and your own way of seeing the world.Tomas admired Saul's:
ability to be himself in his work and in his life.via The Legendary Photographer Who Captured the Softer Side of NYC - Wired (*) by Pete Brook (*).
To do what you like in your work, separate from the buzz. [..]From A few ways to increase your connection to your photography (*) by Kirk Tuck (*) - Thu 23 Feb 2012.Having a project will move you to take chances. [..] You'll need to discipline yourself to do the [..] And you'll need to learn how to finish.
- slow down [..] If you slow down and concentrate on the kinds of images that bring you real joy you'll find a tighter bond with your own work.
- Stop looking at all the sharing sites - When you turn off the outside influences and sit quietly with your own thoughts about art and photography you begin to understand the way you like to see and share art. That's valuable. Everything else is unconscious imitation.
- Do a project - Consistency of vision and subject are worthwhile goals for all artists. Set yourself to the task of creating a body of consistent work. Choose a subject that you love and explore it in depth. Ignore everything else.
- When you choose to do a project have a a goal - Wouldn't it be great if it changed some lives? But no matter where it ends up I will have met interesting people who've taken charge of their own lives and excelled. What fun role models. And the art will be my souvenir of my time spent with them. The prints will be part of the sharing.
- Start thinking beyond the screen - [..] When you slow down and do your art try to go through the whole process of bringing an image to life before you rush out the door to fill up more memory cards and hard drives.
- Really explore the images in front of you. Edit them down. Make them perfect and then print them large [..] Print them till you love them. And learn from the process of presentation. Learn what you like to see, big. The art becomes both portable and present when you pull it off the screen and onto paper. Be sure to go through the whole process so you understand in your gut what you've really created. It will slow you down [..] and focus it on doing work that makes you smile. You are the first audience.
- Finally, forget the online critiques - Find people in your own town, city, region whose work you admire and approach them about forming a sharing circle. Just like a writer's group.
Having a goal for your work gives it extra meaning.
Sharing the work with live people standing in front of you builds real confidence in the work. Having real critiques is painful but helps engender real growth. Helping real, human, non-virtual friends succeed with their own art is part of a rewarding virtuous circle. Embrace it.
if you'd like to celebrate this milestone (there won't be another like it for three years or so) please go ahead and start a blog. If you already have a blog, please go ahead and post something really interesting today.A few days later I would take up the challenge and I posted my 1st blog post here at eljeiffel (*) titled Getting Started (*). Since I had been blogging (the term had not been developed back then) for the period between 1997 and 2003, I looked to my experiences back then and I started again with a small quote (*) from Gustave Eiffel about essentially function and form.
Remembering memories make the memories strongerPart of the reason I blog here. Memories are not memories if you can't remember them.
Don't try to be everyman. Don't pretend you're a member of every community you visit. Don't try to be citizens of some artificial globalized community. Go deeper into your own tradition. Call more upon the geography of your own past. Be distinct and credible. People will come.On Black Abstraction (*) - I had known of Georgia O'Keefe through her relationship with Alfred_Stieglitz (*) (I have a book on his life, but can't remember it's title or where it is now). When I walked into the Gallery Hall with her paintings, I knew I would spend some time there. There were many colourful paintings of abstract views of flowers, desert scenes and buffalo skulls. Black Abstraction caught my gaze and I just stood in front of it and thought of many things. Maybe I thought the dark painting reflected how I felt after recent experiences.
Abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint.Maybe I could say the same thing except apply it to photography, as my words seem totally inadequate to describe where I have been, what I have felt and where I think I am heading.
Street Photography I feel is now the most challenging genre of photography.From an Interview with Kaushal Parikh from Indian Street Photography Collective-Thats Life (*) at Alex Coghe / Street Photography (*)
Most photographers if sent to the Himalayas are likely to return with some spectacular images, but put photographers on a city street and the resulting images will most likely fail to inspire.
Capturing special moments in ordinary circumstances is not easy which is why we see an abundance of average street work online.
Technology and software are less important in a street photographers pursuit of the decisive moment.
Ten years from now new street photography styles may emerge but I hope there are as many photographers roaming the streets and documenting the evolution of life and society.
So the idea is to walk and watch what is happening in any crowd and see if there is an interaction.
A gesture or a hug or kiss or goodbye.
Something that is a significant gesture that makes it interesting for people to look at in a photograph.
During this time, I was trying to make photographs about the 'all of it'; pictures without a central subject. I wanted all the information, near and far, to hold our interest equally, and I wanted colour to be an intricate part of the content. I was trying to unlock photography from the aesthetic of the decisive moment - a difficult thing to give up.A great book to have.
