The Falling Lego

Alec Soth

by Marcos Vilariño

by Funadium

by El Fotopakismo

by Balakov

The gift that keeps on giving

Alec Soth

Christmas, 2008 © Alec Soth/Magnum Photos (Click for larger photo)

Links
» Alec Soth's The Last Days of W (available here and here)

Sad

Alec Soth

I've been suffering from blogger's block lately. It might be environmental. Along with some serious snow and cold up here in Minnesota, we are still trying to dig out from the Senate election. Six weeks after the greatest presidential election of my lifetime, we're still arguing about 'lizard people.'

I might not be able to write, but I can't seem to escape the interviews. (I even did one on 'lizard people'). Under the influence of Seasonal Affective Disorder, I recently did an interview with PDN where I said, "I have qualms with everything. I wake up I have qualms." Do I need professional help?

On Michael Werner's blog, Two Way Lens he asks for advice to emerging photographers. I recently added my two cents, but I can't say it is worth more than that. For something more substantial, check out this two-part interview with Chris Buck on A Photo Editor (here and here).

In the course of the interview, Buck says:
"I believe there are two kinds of photographers. There are those who look at other peoples work and there are those who don't. I'm not one to look at someone else's work. I find it more distracting than helpful. I tend to be generous with young photographers and I'm open to meeting with people but I don't really look at my competitors work."

Though I wouldn't use the word 'competitor', I also wonder if seeing too much contemporary work is problematic. I once had an assistant, Phillip Carpenter, who said something I'll never forget. Phil started off as a musician in Nashville. He was surrounded by a ton of talent and learned about everything going on. But this knowledge, he said, was eventually damaging. Phil explained that the best musicians often come from nowhere. They are in their parent's basement in Idaho, don't really know how to hold the guitar, and consequently develop their own peculiar sound.

So here is the question: If limitation spawns creativity, is the limitless resource of the Internet a good thing? Does it do more harm than good to read all these blogs?

All-age gut strategy

Alec Soth

I regret the title of the recent blog entry on advice to 'young photographers.' There shouldn't be an age limit on up-and-comers. I appreciate compilations like 25 Under 25 and PDN 30, but I sometimes worry about the 50-somethings with breakout projects.

The current issue of the excellent FOAM Magazine is also focused on youth. From over 300 submitted portfolios, the editors chose 12 portfolios from photographers age 35 or under (Magnum's Jacob Aue Sobol among them).

Fortunately the entire issue of FOAM isn't limited to young voices. There is an entertaining interview by Sarah Baxter of two Magnum photographers: Thomas Dworzak (36) and Elliott Erwitt (80). This interview adds some depth to the original post on advice for photographers:

Sarah Baxter: Let's start with the obvious: the generation gap.
Elliott Erwitt: I'm older than he is! (laughs) I was born in 1928, in Neuilly, France, but I left when I was two months old, so I don't have much influence from France. I'm an American.
Thomas Dworzak: I was born in 1972 in Kötzting, a small town in Germany. And I lived in Cham, a really small town, for 18 years, always wanting to leave…
SB: When did you decide to become a photographer, how did it happen?
EE: I was on my own from when I was fifteen and a half. And I had to do something to make money, so I took pictures. This was in Hollywood, where I lived. I took pictures of school events, children, neighbors. That sort of thing. That's how I started. It seemed like a good way to be independent. The only steady employment I ever had was in the Army. But not by choice! In the Army I worked in the darkroom. I was working for several magazines at the same time. That's the thing about photographers, we're always working on the back of something else.
TD: I never studied photography. I was twenty-two when I figured what an F Stop was. In my case, I think studying photography would have destroyed me. Maybe for other people it works. My luck was that I wasn't exposed to photography early on. I just saw reality and printed pictures of it. And it was the result of a random decision. I knew I didn't want to be a doctor because I didn't want to study for a long time. At one point, I thought I would become a missionary, in Africa. I come from a deeply Catholic family, growing up in a small town, so there weren't that many options. Now there are so many jobs, people are web designers or whatever. I left Germany for Prague, then to Yugoslavia when the war started. Then I went to Russia for ten years. I traveled a lot.

Thomas Dworzak by Elliott Erwitt

SB: Do you think you need a strategy to pursue your work as a photographer?
EE: I am too old for strategy.
TD: I guess I'm too young for strategy! I'm confused, I don't know, I wish I had a strategy.
EE: You do have a strategy: it's doing whatever you feel like doing.
TD: It's a gut strategy. I trust my guts.
EE: It's the best strategy you could ask for.
TD: The best stuff I've ever done was not the result of a lot of reflection or anything; it was simple guts.
EE: That's what photography is all about.

Wear Good Shoes: Advice to young photographers

Alec Soth

Austria. 1948. © David Seymour/Magnum Photos.

Today I’m in San Francisco giving a lecture to the Society for Photographic Education. After presenting my pictures and the story of how I became a photographer, I’ll likely be asked if I have any advice for young photographers. Instead of giving just my two cents, I thought it would be cool if I could also offer some advice from my fellow photographers at Magnum. I emailed my colleagues and received 35 different responses.

Download and print the full article as a PDF.

Continue reading 'Wear Good Shoes: Advice to young photographers'

Nixon's mistress

Alec Soth

There has been a lot of talk lately about presidential dogs. Obama bought up the issue in both his victory speech and his first press conference as President-elect. Meanwhile Barney, the outgoing Presidential dog, is caught nipping at the liberal media. Like Huffington Post, this got me looking through the archives for pictures of presidential dogs.

The most famous Presidential dog is probably Nixon's Cocker Spaniel, Checkers. But searching through the Magnum archives, the only picture I could find was of Nixon with an unidentified white poodle. Is this the canine Monica Lewinsky?

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The future of handbag photography

Alec Soth

"Our long national nightmare is over," wrote Richard Lacayo on November 4th. But the Time Magazine critic was referring to art, not politics. Noting the miserable results of a recent Christies auction, Lacayo sounds almost giddy. "We will be entering upon a time when we won't have to spend so much mental energy putting aside the market value of a work before trying to think about it in any other way."

The critic Jerry Saltz also foresees major change. In a recent article on ArtNet he predicts the closing of 40 to 50 galleries and at least one major art fair. But I was particularly interested to read his take on how this will affect artists. "Many younger artists who made a killing will be forgotten quickly. Others will be seen mainly as relics of a time when marketability equaled likability." Like Lacayo, he sees an upside. "The good news is that, since almost no one will be selling art, artists -- especially emerging ones -- won't have to think about turning out a consistent style or creating a brand."

China. Beijing. 2007. © Patrick Zachmann/Magnum Photos

A few years ago a major collector pulled me aside to offer some advice. "If you want success in the art world," he told me, "the key is to find your thing and never change." His advice almost had me vomiting on his Hirst, but he was probably right. The commerce of art isn't much different than the commerce of handbags. It is all about showing off the brand.

One wonders how the collapsing markets might affect the larger universe (or is it a ghetto?) of the photography world. Will gimmickry and branding become less prominent? Will documentation take precedence over decoration? Will people start caring less about the bag than the stuff it is carrying?

Surfing the archive: A Contest!

Alec Soth

The contest:
Find an image in the Magnum archive that reminds you of a famous painting. Post your comparisons in the comments section. We'll pick our favorite and send the winner a signed copy of Elliott Erwitt's Art Appreciation.

An example:
One of the reasons I'm excited to participate in this blog is because it provides an excuse to rummage through the archive. But where to begin? Whether I'm looking for pictures with a computer or a camera, I like to have something specific to look for before the surfing can really start.

Tyler Green at Modern Art Notes recently spent a couple of weeks talking about contemporary art and the American flag. One of the images he mentions is Gordon Park's legendary take on American Gothic. This got me searching the Magnum archive for flag pictures.

One of the flag images that taps some sort of primal American iconography is the Henri Cartier-Bresson classic of an old woman in Cape Cod. "I felt in her a touch of the strength and robustness of the early American pioneers," he said.

In a New York Times article on his American pictures, William Zimmer writes that Cartier-Bresson "is one not to miss a strong, terse symbol." Speaking of the 'skeletal old woman draped in the American Flag,' Zimmer compares her to the allegorical figure in Delacroix's painting, 'Liberty Leading the People.'"

Continue reading 'Surfing the archive: A Contest!'

Not a Friday Poem

Alec Soth

Cool to see that Simon Norfolk is guest editing this week's edition of the British Journal of Photography. In choosing Milton Rogovin for the cover story, he writes:

The fashionistas will run a mile from his photographic style (monochrome is so last century); his tenacity (so 1970s,) humanism (so last year) and his communist politics (so ... oh, didn't capitalism collapse last week?) - but quality will always shine through in the end.

While working near Buffalo, I made a pilgrimage to meet Rogovin in 2004 (see the picture here). I was terrified, but he was as sweet and generous as his photographs.

I later learned that at age ninety Rogoving began writing poetry (via):

"I was sitting in this chair in my living room on my ninetieth birthday, and I started crying as I recalled my father going swimming at Coney Island, and a poem came out. Then I wrote a poem about my mother. I was remembering the time she took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to see a well-known painting called "The Horse Fair" (1852) by Rosa Bonheur. I wrote about 70 poems over the next few years, all of them sitting in that chair. My family joked about it. (Laughing) My son Mark sat in the chair, but no poems came out."

Does photojournalism make you verklempt?

Alec Soth

Joerg is dangling the meat over at Conscientious, but I just don't have time to bite. I might be blogging again, but I'm not going to sacrifice my first born this time around. Maybe someone else is in the mood to masticate?

As Linda Richman used to say, I've got shpilkes in my geneckteckessoink…talk amongst yourselves...

A conversation with Alex Webb about InSight America

Alec Soth

On the eve of the election, a number of Magnum photographers have been venturing into American to capture what they can of this historic moment in time. The project is called InSight America. But rather than publish this work as a book a year after the fact, Magnum is posting the work online and on the fly.

I caught up with Alex Webb after his recent journey to Ohio:

USA. Youngstown, Ohio. October 6, 2008. Outside bus station. © Alex Webb/Magnum Photos

Alec Soth: Hey Alex, before we start, maybe you could explain how this project emerged. Who came up with the idea of InSight? And how quickly did the concept turn into you being in Ohio.

Alex Webb: The idea of Magnum photographers going out and documenting the U.S., particularly in relationship to this historic election, has been batted about at Magnum for some time. It only coalesced as a project in September, when Fred Ritchin, Melissa Harris, and the rest of the team -- as well as some funds -- came on board. The notion of my going to Ohio came at least partially out of a personal interest of mine. It is part of a larger project that I hope to continue in the future -- to photograph in several struggling Rust Belt and Sun Belt cities.

USA. Youngstown, Ohio. October 7th, 2008. Downtown. © Alex Webb/Magnum Photos

Soth: I'm guessing you chose Ohio because it is a swing state. But was there any particular reason you chose it instead of, say, Florida. I mean, you are the author of From the Sunshine State? Have you ever previously worked in Ohio?

Webb: I chose Ohio at least partially because it is a swing state, but also because it fit into my larger idea of photographing Rust Belt and Sun Belt cities (I plan to go to Miami the week before the election.) My wife [the photographer Rebecca Norris Webb] pointed out to me an article which discussed Youngstown, Ohio as a shrinking city. The article noted not only Youngstown's drastic population drop since the closing of the steel mills, but also the innovative program started by the city's mayor to raze abandoned houses and buildings in order to reduce crime and create more green space. The city, rather than sounding the tired refrain that jobs would somehow materialize, had decided to embrace the notion of a shrinking population. I was intrigued by this.

Continue reading 'A conversation with Alex Webb about InSight America'

Should Magnum do fashion?

Alec Soth

Lise Sarfati just released the latest edition of Magnum's Fashion Magazine. All of these pictures were made in Austin, an area Lise previously mined in her book The New Life.

In an essay about her new fashion work, Quentin Bajac discusses Sarfati's reluctance to participate in 'fashion': "To give it a name would mean circumscribing a practice in advance - locking in it. That's how it's always been with Lise Sarfati. She seems reluctant to put what she does into words, except in negative terms: this isn't fashion photography, she explains. So what is it?"

I'd argue that this is more or less the case with all of the photographers who've previously participated in Magnum's Fashion Magazine (Martin Parr, Bruce Gilden and myself). While each photographer uses clothes and stylists, one senses a fear of being swallowed up in the fashion machine.

All of this makes me wonder about the perception of this work out in the world. Do fashionistas like it? Does Magnum's audience like it? What do you think about an organization grounded in documentary principals dipping its toes in the fashion ocean?

Before you answer, have a look at this.

Links
» Lise Sarfati's Magnum Portfolio
» Lise Sarfati's Fashion Magazine slideshow
» Lise Sarfati's books from the Magnum Store

If I were president, I'd have a kick-ass blog

Alec Soth

St. Paul, MN, 2008 © Alec Soth/Magnum Photos

Last September, Republicans from around the US marched into my backyard - St. Paul, Minnesota. I managed to get access to the Republican Convention with press credentials loaned from someone I met at a demonstration (don't ask). Within five minutes of working my way through the various security measures, I found myself walking down the same hallway as Karl Rove. In a flash I saw my future before me. With one stoke of my carbon-fiber tripod, I could take this menace out. My photography career might be over, but I'd at least I'd make my mark on history.

Needless to say, I chickened out. So now I'm back to looking for more modest marks to make. After a lot of soul searching, my new goal is to breath some life into this blog.

Don't get me wrong; Martin Fuchs has done an excellent job as blog administrator. He sends out emails to the photographers and pesters us for content. And there has been plenty of fantastic content. But something is missing. I see the body, but I don't hear the voice.

In analyzing Magnum's blog, I noticed the post that generated the greatest reader response was one of the Photos of the Week by Christopher Anderson (read the post here). As is often the case, one reader offered some pointed criticism. But what made the post come to life was that Chris took the time to respond. I probably learned more from that dialogue than from a dozen essays on photojournalism.

What makes blogs work isn't fancy prose. It is all about content and conversation. So in trying to whip this blog to life, these are my goals:

1) More content. In 2007 we averaged 6.5 posts per month. In 2008 we are averaging 3.5. I want to pump more stuff through the system.

2) More conversation. Most photographers are busy shooting and traveling. They also tend to be a bit blog-shy. But I'm going to do my best to get them in here. I might be too scared to jump Karl Rove, but I'm willing to do my best with Martin Parr.

So let me start the conversation by asking what you want. If you ran this blog, how would you make it better?

Interview: Alec Soth on "Dog Days Bogotá"

Alec Soth with Carrie Thompson

In 2002, Alec Soth traveled with his wife to Bogotá, Colombia to adopt a baby girl. The baby's birth mother gave the new parents a book filled with letters, pictures and poems for their new daughter. 'I hope that the hardness of the world will not hurt your sensitivity,' she wrote. 'When I think about you I hope that your life is full of beautiful things.'

Soth discusses Dog Days Bogotá with his intern, Carrie Thompson, a photography student at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Photographs from the book "Dog Days Bogotá" © Alec Soth/Magnum Photos

Carrie Thompson: You made this book for your daughter, why did you decide to make it for the public?

Alec Soth: Wow, you're starting with the hardest question - you should be a journalist! Unfortunately I don't have a great answer. This work was produced five years ago. After Sleeping by the Mississippi was published, it didn't feel right to do this book. So I just kept it in my back pocket. After Niagara, I guess I was ready.

CT: Tell me about the dogs, how did they become so important?

AS: I was aware of the street kids in Bogotá. I mean, it is a hard thing to ignore, but I was especially attuned to it because of the adoption experience. But I was uncomfortable photographing these kids. So I photographed street-dogs instead. I guess they were a stand-in for the kids.

CT: So do the dogs have different types of personalities in your eyes - like young street children?

AS: Great question. In a way, this gets at why I was uncomfortable photographing the kids. I mean, I wasn't seeing them as individuals; I was generalizing them as a group. I don't like doing that. The dogs are all a little different, but I'm using them largely as an idea.

CT: It seems like you are searching for something in these images, was there something you were looking for?

AS: In the dog pictures or the book as a whole?

CT: All of the photos, the book.

AS: Yeah, I feel like I was looking for something...I'm just not sure what it was. But, of course, it all has to do with my daughter. Since we weren't given too much information about her background, the whole city became charged with her presence. I guess I was looking for signs of her and her background.

CT: Imagine your daughter looking at this book in five years, what do you want to see in her birthplace?

AS: I guess I want it to be a real place for her. I mean, we are already showing her the pictures (we only tore one page out of the book). We talk about Colombia a lot with her. As a five year old, it is just a mythical place. But over time, I want her to absorb it as a real place and as a real part of her history. I suspect that in five years she would be ready to take a trip there.

Continue reading 'Interview: Alec Soth on "Dog Days Bogotá"'