10 Things Garry Winogrand Can Teach You About Street Photography by Eric Kim

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.