I found the link to
this blog by street photographer Eric Kim via @BlurbBooks on Twitter. The piece
is full of great information about Garry Winogrand and I find the personal,
enthusiastic tone refreshing - Kim frequently mentions in the article how studying
Winongrand has influenced and informed his own photographic practice and
methods. The blog also provides lots of different suggestions for further
research. At the time I read this I was researching workflow and thinking a
great deal about my own ways of working and a number of points resonated with
me.
Something that has
stayed with me about Garry Winogrand for many years is a famous quote of his, "I photograph to see what the world looks like
in photographs." I think I read this before I was consciously aware of Winogrand's work and
it is a simple sentence that I keep mulling round in my mind and often use as
something to spur me on and inspire me. On one level the sentence can be read
as a flippant aside, I believe though the truth is much more than that. For me
it suggests the self doubt a photographer can face and confronts critical
questions such as 'why did you photograph that?' It is a rebuke to such
statements and asserts the right of the photographer to work as they wish - it
says 'if you don't get what I do why should I explain?' I often feel uncertain
about what I should be photographing and the Winongrand's words spur me on not
to overthink but to get out and do - the words give me such a strong sense of
his drive and energy.
In his
article Kim states that a conservative estimate of how many photographs
Winogrand took in his lifetime is over 5 million. (He does concede that there
is some conjecture about this however with a commenter challenging that the
true figure is between 1-1.25 million, without getting drawn on this he
recognises that even this lower figure means Winogrand took a great number of
photographs.) Something I am becoming increasingly aware of is that I do not
shoot enough, I tend to have periods high activity punctuated by days or weeks
when I do not pick up the camera. I have thought long and hard about why this
is and there are many reasons; often I have a sense of self doubt or I feel
unsure about what I should be shooting, if I do not feel in the mood for taking
photographs I tend not to, I feel guilty if I am taking photographs for 'fun'
rather than for the course are a few reasons. While the 455 images a day
Winogrand took is somewhat on the extreme side maybe if I set myself the target
of going out to take photographs twice a week that would be a more realistic
approach. Again I go back to the previously mentioned quote - Winongrand seems
to be telling me to put aside all these doubts and just get on with taking
photographs.
Of course the problem remains of how to edit and select
all the images taken, Winongrand had had a radical solution to this - he never
processed his film straight away but waited up to two years believing he needed
to almost forget having shot the pictures. He felt that emotion was the enemy
of good selection and that he could be influenced by the way he felt on a
particular day rather than the strength of a particular image: "You make better choices if you approach your contact sheets cold,
separating the editing from the picture taking as much as possible."
I recognise this as being true - I often struggle with editing my images
because I make too many selects and therefore take too much time reviewing and
processing. I need to find ways to be more decisive - it strikes me that
Winongrand was extremely confident in which images to select and I guess this
is something I will develop too over time. Still the doubt remains that I might
not make the correct selections so I include images that I really know are not
working - I need to find a way to divorce my emotion as Winongrand did.
Kim's blog contains
other similar articles about other photographers that interest and have
influenced him such as William Eggleston, Henri-Cartier Bresson, Walker Evans
and Robert Frank. All photographers that also interest me so I will spend time
reading further. I am beginning to realise that looking at photographers work
alone is not enough but understanding there ways of working is also very
important - hopefully this will help me develop my own strategies and
ultimately help me find my own photographic voice.
