Garry Winogrand

[SuzanneR]

This was a link I saw on the Online Photographer blog. I've always admired Winogrand's work, and found this short film interesting

http://www.jimarnold.org/downloads/winogrand/flash/

The idea of seeing something, the way the camera sees it... great stuff.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

Excellent video! Thanks Suzanne. Shawn

 

[Alex Hawley]

Gosh that was good! I'm going to have to watch it again, several times. Thanks a bunch Suzanne.

Did anyone else catch that those contact prints were done on 11x14 paper?

 

[JRSoto]

Thanks Suzanne. Gary Winogrand was my inspiration for a project in photo school. I loved his "Arrivals and Departures" and "Figments from the real world". Great video...

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yeah, I love the cavalier way he handled his negs, barehanded. I guess he just cleaned the ones that he really printed.

 

[Kino]

That was great! His philosophy certainly gives me pause, but I have a hard time arguing with the imagery...

 

[removed account4]

i love that video. and i love the way he sees
the world. i don't feel so bad with the handful
of film or 1/2 box of sheet film i have to process,
a drawer full ( i think i remember reading there were thousands?
of rolls of film unprocessed after he passed away ) to process
is good stuff <g> and a camera that is used so much
you can see the sprocket holes on the pressure plate is pretty impressive

you can see it cameraquest.com if you search for garry winogrand ...

thanks suzanne

 

[catem]

Interesting video, Suzanne. Lots of seemingly "throw away" comments that bear further thought - e.g. "taking a photograph of something changes it" and, " a photograph is mute - it has no narrative ability"....interesting in so far as thinking about how far, in what ways these statements are true...
Am coming back for another look at this one later!

 

[SuzanneR]

And this little nugget... you have to be willing to accept failure with every frame.

 

[Michael W]

The other day at the Rangefinder forum there was a post by a guy who was a student of Winogrand's at the University in Austin in the '70s. He has put together a 20 page document/memoir of what it was like in the class, anecdotes etc. Also plenty of photos that he took in the classroom & on excursions. You go to his website & then download it as a pdf. Sorry I don't have the link but should be easy to find via the other forum.

 

[SuzanneR]

The other day at the Rangefinder forum there was a post by a guy who was a student of Winogrand's at the University in Austin in the '70s. He has put together a 20 page document/memoir of what it was like in the class, anecdotes etc. Also plenty of photos that he took in the classroom & on excursions. You go to his website & then download it as a pdf. Sorry I don't have the link but should be easy to find via the other forum.

Here's the link with the PDF that you can download, courtesy of the Online Photographer.

http://ocgarzaphotography.com/

 

[JHannon]

Here's the link with the PDF that you can download, courtesy of the Online Photographer.

http://ocgarzaphotography.com/

I saw that a while ago and lost the link, thanks for posting it.

 

[John Jarosz]

The article mirrors my experiences as well. I studied at the Illinois Institue of Technology - Institute of Design - in Chicago when Gary taught there in 1969 to 1970/71. The writer captured almost every aspect of Winogrand's style.

On printing: The ID had a large open darkroom for printing. I was working late one night when Gary came in with a box of 11x14 paper under his arm. He proceeded to put sheets one at a time into the developer and pull them out when they had enough. He did this with quite a few sheets and would talk to whoever was around the whole time. The sheets were exposed in his darkroom at home. He certainly was much more open about who he was and what he did than any other professor I've had in my life.

Garry Winogrand was quite a shock to the students at ID when he came there. Before his arrival the mantra of photography there was the fine print from people like Aaron Siskin.

One line I remember quite distinctly from Garry was him saying that this photographer or that photographer was "trying to be a painter" instead of a photographer.

Quite a person - one who was perfect for me at the time in terms of showing me alternate forms of the medium.

John

 

[jstraw]

I understand that for Winogrand, it was shoot everything...trust your instincts in the editing process and cope with printing as a necessary evil.

I admire his work for what it is but I could never work like that. I'm not certain he got the best out of his talents that way but perhaps he did. If he was a meticulous printer, it would have diverted time and attention from shooting and editing.

 

[SuzanneR]

John... thanks for sharing your experience... his printing style, it seems to me, was perfect for his shooting style.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

I just downloaded the PDF and look forward to reading it tonight! Thanks again for the great links. Shawn

 

[John Jarosz]

With his volume of negatives, I don't see how he could have printed any other way.

John

 

[pentaxuser]

Thanks. I am just a little more educated in the broadest sense of the word than I was before seeing this video.

pentaxuser

 

[foto-r3]

Winogrand fans should have a look at this site:

http://2point8.whileseated.org/

Michael David Murphy, the guy who runs the site, is a real Winogrand addict himself, so much so that he has even done some research at the Winogrand archives, and he generally is a lucid voice on Winogrand in particular & street photography in general. The abovementioned vid and PDF are both linked from there, too.

Best.

 

[rpsawin]

While watching that clip I had to laugh as the term "The Perfect Storm" came to mind. He was genuine, unique....wonderful.

Bob

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Maybe you found it via APUG. I've merged the new thread with the existing one.

 

[Pinholemaster]

I never tire seeing this video. Thanks Suzanne.

 

[Lee Shively]

David--I deleted my post since it is redundent.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

No problem, Lee. It's a wonderful video.

 

[pentaxuser]

I read the student's account of attending a Winogrand class with interest. It was well written. Lends weight to the use of rangefinder cameras and specifically Leicas for street photography. My interest in him was further stimulated by the BBC programme The Genius of Photography which devoted a large part of one episode to him. As a matter of interest, what has happened to the 100's or 1000s of rolls that he never developed in his lifetime?

pentaxuser