Archive for the ‘Favorite People’ Category
Aesthetic documentary by Steve McCurry
When it comes to documentary photography in color, it hardly get’s better than Steve McCurry’s work. While he’s best known for the captivating photograph of an Afghan girl, his mastery of composition – so important in color photographs if one has to get beyond a literal representation of the subject that a snapshot provides – is what makes you savor each photograph of his.
A telling example is his recent work in Cuba. Every photograph in that collection makes your eyes wander around the picture in an attempt to resolve the shapes and colors into a story. There’s much to see and a lot to feel. The creamy, saturated colors add to the rhythm.
Over the past year, he has dished out some advice to those who would like learn from him. Here are some excerpts from his blog posts:
July 17: “I’m often asked about what advice I could give to young photographers. I would recommend studying the work of Elliott Erwitt, my colleague at Magnum Photos who has had an illustrious career in fine art, editorial, and corporate advertising photography.
Elliott has done it all – from creating films including The Glass Makers of Herat (1977) to exhibitions in London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Zurich and New York. He is also coming out with two new books this year.”
June 14: Many of us are in a position to help others, but few of us are aware of that we can do – or what a difference our contribution can make. I hope my photographs help people become more informed and find a way to contribute.
May 20: When people ask me how they can become a photographer, I almost never mention cameras, lenses, or technique.
I say, ‘If you want to be a photographer, first leave home.’ As Paul Theroux, a great writer and friend, further advises, “Go as far as you can. Become a stranger in a strange land. Acquire humility.”
Leaving home really means that the photographer (or writer) has to wander, observe, and to paraphrase Theroux, concentrate on people in their landscape. That is what I try to achieve in my pictures.
May 15: People often ask me how I get started on an assignment.
Most of my photographic projects now involve places I’ve already been to and experienced. With the monsoon in India, I had already been experiencing it, actually living it, for two or three years.
I did a story recently on the Bamiyan region in Afghanistan, the home of the Hazara people, a people who came to Afghanistan perhaps a thousand years ago. They are a very peaceful, long-suffering tribe, who somehow end up on the short end of the stick. They are more mistreated than the Kurds and do all of the menial jobs. The giant Buddhas they had protected for centuries were destroyed by the Taliban, and hundreds of Hazara villages were burned and the people were murdered. I’d already spent years observing them and living among them.
So, as far as research goes, I want to arrive at a place with a pretty good idea of what I’m going to do. But there’s no point, really, in spending time trying to come up with a lot of pre-conceived ideas because you will always end up being disappointed. I usually get to a place and immerse myself in the situation and then go from there. Since I’ve been so many places I have a long list of situations and places and people that I would love to photograph.
Since I’ve always been interested in photographing Afghanistan, South Asia, Tibet and Buddhist countries, it’s a continuum rather than an assignment. I might get an assignment, but it’s really adding to my body of work.
While focusing on the assignment, it’s important to understand the big picture and how it will contribute to your personal archive.
Also, read this entry from the blog where he talks about how he chased the monsoons in India, with some photographs of himself and that which he took.
Here’s a movie made of still images by Steve, with sound. Beautiful photographs shot in color and lovely font for the subtitles.
And, look at these wonderful portraits in Afghanistan. He embedded himself with the people and traveled for long times with them to document the conflict. Apart from the work ethic that is admirable, his portraits are so beautiful even when made in as ravaged a country as that.
John Grisham’s a Happy Man
Here’s a wonderful article about John Grisham and his work. He got his first book published about 20 years ago, when he was about 34. And now, after all those years and after having several more popular books and movies based on his stories, he is a fantastic success. Read the article to know that he too faced financial trouble when young, that he too struggled earlier to complete books and to have them accepted for publication. Midway through the interview, he says that he “prefers to appreciate his success rather than boast about it“.
It’s a lot better to pay attention now to the life one needs to construct, and to work towards that vision. At the end of it all, it could mean the difference between one priding over a vast body of influential work and presiding over the debris of his or her dreams.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth Gilbert gives a wonderfully fluid talk over at TED about the mysterious sources of insights that so called geniuses get, weaving in dramatic real-life stories about creative people who have been possessed by powerful ideas. She romances over how genius – far from being innate in people – is this thing that get holds of them with a force-of-nature type of intensity, and get’s them to make the long slog through beauty and pain to uncover a truth they’ve always known.
The unpretentious home page with her photograph tells me that she’s open, honest, vulnerable and somewhat fearless in her approach. I want my work to develop that kind of character – purity in its intent, sincerity in its execution and honesty in its content. Nothing that’s contrived. Nothing that entertains through the shock factor. And nothing that does not grow with me and make me fulfilled.
Also, here is an excerpt from one of her interviews listed on her website:
“I am far more of a loner than people would imagine. But I am the most gregarious and socially interactive loner you ever met. The thing is, I am fascinated by people’s stories and I’m very talkative and can’t ever say No to anything or anyone, so I tend to over-socialize, to give away too much of my time to the many people I adore.”
That one is a perfect description of my dominant attitude. I am interested in everything, and get talking to people who have experiences to narrate. Anybody can have strong beliefs, but I’m after those who have had actual experiences to back up such beliefs.