A wonderful insight on the art of photography.

[Firestarter]

Many new photographers lack the direction, inspiration, even motivation to upgrade their craft to something more: an art. I would like to dedicate to them this video-taped conversation with one of the greatest American photographers of modern time, Duane Michals. I stumbled upon this video by chance. I'm glad I did...


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[Firestarter]

Ooops, looks like I did not embed that video properly... So, here is the link to it on YouTube.

[andnowimbroke]

Nice video. Him and Andy out of the same place made sense. Must have been in the water. I have to be honest that I don

[Steve U]

Now that

[Firestarter]

Steve, as you may recall, Ansel Adams once famously said: "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy idea". Duane Michals seems to have the same notion, as he admits that he sometimes tries to make his images blurry - on purpose.


In general, people put too much emphasis on the technique, neglecting the content. They don't look within themselves, they don't listen to their conscious and unconscious (especially the latter one).Every one of us is a unique set of mind, feelings and experiences. We should make use of that.

[Steve U]

Well said, those concepts truely separate the good from the great. Appreciated the link and the insight, thanks.

[HDNitehawk]

Steve, as you may recall, Ansel Adams once famously said: "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy idea". Duane Michals seems to have the same notion, as he admits that he sometimes tries to make his images blurry - on purpose.

Fire Starter, very interesting. I really haven't ever looked at his work till now. I watched the video and found what he had to say interesting, but really not how to take it because I hadn't seen his work. After watching it, I looked up a few, he does have the goods. His sequence with the girl and the coat on the coat rack was somewhat terrifying. I think his medium today works even better with digital slide shows. When he was starting out I would imagine he presented his work in a story board format, I am not sure it would have the same impact looking at each pic individualy. I would be curious how he laid it out, possibly in a magazine type layout, because you wouldn't want someone to be able to see the following picture.


In the video, when talking about the camera's limitations and how someone should use all its abilities to its fullest: Duane Michals Quote "...people in real life do not blurr or double expose, unless your drunk."

[Firestarter]

As much as I love Duane

[TakahiroW4047]

Thank you Firestarter for this post! I really enjoyed it. If there is one commonality I hear when listening to photographers who have excelled in any field of photography, is the message that "the camera should be an extension of yourself".


I remember wedding photographer Chris Mautner being asked "what settings you use" for his photos, and he replied something along the line of "if you can answer what settings you were using off of the top of your head, then you have not reached a point where you are truly capturing moments. When one can forget about exposure, aperture, focal length settings because it has all become instinctual, then you can truly submerge yourself in the moment and "create" photographs".

[andnowimbroke]

That is an awesome line of Chris