Winogrand’s thoughts on photography
Austin pointed me to this video of Garry Winogrand with Bill Moyers, 1982. The piece offers some of Winogrand’s now infamous and influential insights regarding photographing and photography. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
A picture is about what’s photographed and how that exists in a photograph.
I think that there isn’t a photograph in the world that has any narrative ability — any of them. They do not tell stories; they show you what something looks like to a camera.
The minute you relate this thing to what was photographed, it’s a lie.
All the photograph ever does is describe light on surface — that’s all there is, and that’s all we ever know about anybody… what we see… we are our faces.
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But sometimes the pictures are not even those people’s faces:
Egads look here, click on the portfolio and then on a face, and put your mouse over the picture.
http://www.iwanexstudio.com/
I’m struggling to accept those images as photography - they seem to be much more about painting.
The Winogrand quote about the lack of narritive ability is so great. It’s like saying my name is John and no one taking that fact seriously because everyone else says my name is Rupert and everyone knows that. And then I am judged by how well I convey being Rupert and also maybe my BOKEH.
dammit I did not close my italics tag.
Also the “everybody is stuck with their own psychology” line is great.
And you thought I had more camera’s than sense!