Garry Winogrand – Page 3 – tom stappers

Apr 04

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Winogrand – street photography quote

By Tom | photography, street photography

Garry Winogrand, my favorite photographer and doubtless the greatest street photographer ever, nevertheless hated that term as he hated categorisations in general. Here are some more interesting quotes from his famous interview with Barbaralee Diamonstein: …”I think that those kind of distinctions and lists of titles like “street photographer” are so stupid. […] I’m a photographer, a still photographer. That’s it. […] People are just dumb. They misunderstand.”

[…] “I’m pretty fast with a camera when I have to be. However, I think it’s irrelevant. I mean, what if I said that every photograph I made was set up? From the photograph you can’t prove otherwise. You don’t know anything from the photograph about how it was made, really. […] The whole discussion is a way of not talking about photographs. [What is really important] is the photograph.”

Asked what he wanted to evoke with his photographs, he answers: “I have no ideas on that subject. I’m not making ads. I couldn’t care less. Everybody’s entitled to their own experience.”

Mar 27

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vegetation016 take 1-4

By Tom | photography

Let’s see now, big leaves, enclosure, vague light in the background. A scene from childhood when you were still smaller than most plants around you. Close to water, maybe, you’ve seen such plants there, and there’s that light… On the photograph is just an imprint of what was before me, before the camera as Garry rightfully said… No more than that… Can’t show what’s not there. Light on surface. You have your thoughts, lookthink. You may think: this looks like rhubarb, right, maybe you think this is from a dream you were once in. You may think: no rain on your face under the big leaf; find shelter together with the insects on the moist ground, the light gets less because it rains, home not far, safe. Take four: now you touch the leaves as you stand up and look at the trees beyond. It’s all valid. It’s there if you want, here’s the picture: the image is of another day under a different sky. I can’t reach you, you can reach yourself, you make the connections, you make it work. I just give you the image. Look… And think.

Mar 18

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more Winogrand quotes

By Tom | street photography

“When I’m photographing I see life, that’s what I deal with.”……….”I frame in terms of what I want to include, and naturally, when I want to snap the shutter.”……….”If I’m at the viewfinder, and I know that picture, why take it? I’ll do something to change it…”……….”I get into situations where there’s a lot of activity, more things can occur to me to try.”……….”Reality is the photograph itself…”

These are some alternative Winogrand quotes for you. The usual quotes (and misquotes!) can be put into a greater perspective, I think. Being a longtime street photographer myself, I have selected those words in which I recognize the approach that has inspired me, hoping to show that his ideas, though often provokingly formulated, were much deeper than some people seem to grasp.

Mar 16

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wiki street

By Tom | street photography

Whoever is confused about the definition of street photography, may be inclined to look it up in the pages of Wikipedia. I personally was shocked to see some less-than-mediocre color photographs, having nothing in common but the fact that they were obviously taken of people outdoors, and a meaninglessness next to non-existance. These uninspired photos were intended as illustrations for a short, imprecise attempt at defining street photography, followed by extended ramblings about overcoming shyness !! [shy?- don’t even try!] , being invisible, tricks, the “right” equipment [can you imagine paints, brushes, or canvas being mentioned in an article about, let’s say: impressionism], and endless legal considerations, all of which reads more like “photography for dummies” than a serious article about photography (as art). This would put off and discourage anybody ever wanting to take a picture that might include (oh, the horror…) a complete stranger.

Could somebody (with more patience, and more knowledge of Wikipedia than me) please take the time one of these days to update this Wikipedia article about street photography, and balance its various aspects in a way that makes more sense. I think of a serious photographer rather than a legal adviser… Some Garry Winogrand quotes would fit in fine, I think, as would a few real street photographs for a change!

Mar 13

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Winogrand: quotes from 2 tv interviews

By Tom | street photography

“When things move I get interested, I know that much.”……….”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.”……….”It’s the subject. I think I’m interested in how a lot of things look.”……….

……….Q: You shoot every day? Winogrand: Yeah,sure.

……….”the photograph isn’t what was photographed, it’s something else. It’s about transformation.”……….”there is a transformation [of the banal] , you see, when you just put four edges around it. That changes it. A new world is created.”……….

……….Q: Do you (….) think of yourself as an artist? Winogrand: I probably am. I don’t think about it (……) But, if I have to think, yeah, I guess so.

(quotes edited and selected by Tom Stappers – for more: click red tags below this post)

Mar 10

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performance tonight

By Tom | photography

I just got an email from Jeffrey Shurdut, who will perform tonight with the equally gifted Joe McPhee at The Stone, New York. He must have overlooked that I’m not “in town” so I won’t be able to make it I need not add, in spite of the invitation, but what a pity. I would love to photograph a jazz concert again after a long time, love to hold those sturdy Nikons, use the speedlights and the motordrives, feel the weight around my neck and count the exposed films in my pocket. The game of photography, as Garry Winogrand called it, offers a lot more than just pictures, it is the excitement, being a master of timing, the tactile, the response of mechanical high-end material and being involved in (or at least very close to) the action…

Mar 06

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why the blog

By Tom | street photography

My website is all about photographs, about straightforward black&white analog (film) photography. And there are some pretty strong pictures, I think. But even the strongest photography can be diluted by putting too many words in between, so I decided to separate the texts from the images.
In this blog I will therefore comment on my own work, as well as possibly on current developments and subjects of interest in photography, with a special focus on real street photography in the Garry Winogrand vein. Other favorites that will no doubt be mentioned in the near future are Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank and Diane Arbus. So please visit this blog from time to time if you are interested in the backgrounds of my work and my thoughts about photography. Until later!