Share Your Inspirational Videos?

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sirch said:
Well ... challenging but this inspired me
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Q2QNA6xFA
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I really enjoyed this. I like seeing how people who are still fundamentally "photographers" (ie where the images are still rooted in their direct experience with the subject they photographed) but don't feel constrained by tradition. Even though the concept of collage is a well established photographic tradition.

On a similar (but different, as these are photographers at the beginning of their career) I found these Futureproof 2022 artist talks interesting. These are by recent photography graduates who have completed a postgraduate mentoring scheme run by Streetlevel Photoworks.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFJ0D6CXeIY
 
Ed Sutton said:
A bit of a different interview with Martin Parr
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Really enjoyed this - thanks for posting it Dave. Parr did another interview recently with Ben Smith, but I liked how this guy was prepared to challenge some of Parr's statements - even if only to be put right. I agree with everything said in the video - especially the part about most photography being junk, and the difficulty in evaluating work based on one single image. It's getting harder and harder to see the wheat from the chaff, wood for the trees, [insert your preferred phrase here].
 
Harlequin565 said:
Really enjoyed this - thanks for posting it Dave. Parr did another interview recently with Ben Smith, but I liked how this guy was prepared to challenge some of Parr's statements - even if only to be put right. I agree with everything said in the video - especially the part about most photography being junk, and the difficulty in evaluating work based on one single image. It's getting harder and harder to see the wheat from the chaff, wood for the trees, [insert your preferred phrase here].
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Glad you enjoyed it. I liked it because there were some fresh questions asked.

I stopped listening to A Small Voice a while back but it looks like there are some recent episodes I'll be having a listen to. (y)
 
Fay Godwin British Library collection Presentation (Cross posted with the main talk photography sub-forum)

A interesting lecture from the British Library preservationist working on their Fay Godwin collection, which seems to be everything from her studio: prints, contacts, notes, books, cameras etc. I wasn't aware of the range of work she had done (but I don't know that much about her).

It's currently being catalogued and preserved, so as well as a history of Fay Godwin there is some background on what and how the BL are managing the collection, which includes 5 hours of an unedited interview with Fay Godwin,

Well worth a watch. (EDIT: in spite of the video unavailable notice, the link to youtube still works)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abRv6mt-pVQ
 
myotis said:
Fay Godwin British Library collection Presentation (Cross posted with the main talk photography sub-forum)

A interesting lecture from the British Library preservationist working on their Fay Godwin collection, which seems to be everything from her studio: prints, contacts, notes, books, cameras etc. I wasn't aware of the range of work she had done (but I don't know that much about her).

It's currently being catalogued and preserved, so as well as a history of Fay Godwin there is some background on what and how the BL are managing the collection, which includes 5 hours of an unedited interview with Fay Godwin,

Well worth a watch. (EDIT: in spite of the video unavailable notice, the link to youtube still works)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abRv6mt-pVQ
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I wish you'd posted that yesterday, I could have watched it while the test match was rained off!
 
myotis said:
I really enjoyed that :)
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Me too. I quite liked the photos too. I think people who have a passion for something turn out great work.
 
myotis said:
I think a lot of it is a deep sense of purpose, that doesn't just fuel the passion but also drives the focus and practice.
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I dare you to start a thread on that one :)
 
I liked his approach of asking himself how he can create his ideas with what he has available. Much more sensible than asking what gear he could buy to get there!
myotis said:
I think a lot of it is a deep sense of purpose, that doesn't just fuel the passion but also drives the focus and practice.
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I read a quote the other week (which I can't find who it was made by): "The trouble with many amateurs is that what they love is photography itself; few have anything the actually want to say."
 
Ed Sutton said:
The trouble with many amateurs is that what they love is photography itself; few have anything they actually want to say.
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Fixed it for you, and also managed to change the attribution. Wise words Dave :)
 
Ed Sutton said:
I liked his approach of asking himself how he can create his ideas with what he has available. Much more sensible than asking what gear he could buy to get there!

I read a quote the other week (which I can't find who it was made by): "The trouble with many amateurs is that what they love is photography itself; few have anything the actually want to say."
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On the second point, when I was at college (Napier in Edinburgh, almost 50 years ago) studying photography, one of my lecturers used to say almost the same thing to the photography students: i.e. that our biggest problem was only being interested in photography.

I'm not sure any of us understood what he meant at the time, but I do now.

I still have the problem of having nothing I want to say, as I still primarily just enjoy the "process"of making photographs and the heightened awareness of my surroundings when I have a camera compared to when I don't.


I agree with you first point.
 

Lewis Baltz and The New Topographics​


A video from what might well be my favourite Youtube channel at the moment (The Crit House.) where, along with the host, two photographers (see below) discuss Lewis Baltz, the new topographics and some some wider photographic ideas. (51 minutes)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3zImLqBIBM



Neal Rantoul is an artist and educator. He was the head of the Photo Program at Northeastern University for 30 years. He taught at Harvard University. He now focuses on doing new work and bringing earlier work to a national and international audience. https://www.nealrantoul.com IG - @nealrantoulstudio

Michael Hintlian is a photographer educated at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. He has taught at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, the New England School of Photography, The New School for Social Research, and the Parsons School of Design. His work has appeared in publications internationally and is widely exhibited and collected. His book is Digging: The Workers of Boston's Big Dig.https://www.hintlian.com/index
 
Ed Sutton said:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0qdHSxYZbY


:exit:
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It's a funny old place Youtube, and I think he made some reasonable points. "Professional" professional photographers as opposed to people who are make a living out of photography generally come with a different underlying approach to photography.

There are still some useful/good channels, if you can find them, but then we all have different views, about what is good.

I thought I had found a good youtube channel in my previous post on the New Topographics, which I've now referred to in three posts on here without any response from anyone.
 
myotis said:
I thought I had found a good youtube channel in my previous post on the New Topographics, which I've now referred to in three posts on here without any response from anyone.
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I tried The Crit Housebut it didn't appeal - the name's cringeworthy for a start! I might give it another try.
 
Ed Sutton said:
I tried The Crit Housebut it didn't appeal - the name's cringeworthy for a start! I might give it another try.
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I agree about the name, and, having watched all of the posts (except for the most recent) they do vary a lot but experience has shown I have lower standards than you do !!

I'm content to simply feel I have some greater (and potentially useful) insight into photographs, photographers or photography than I did before watching it.. Several of the Crit house videos have been about sequencing/culling images (with the photographer) for exhibition or publication, and I found those discussion interesting.

Although I'm getting better at avoiding it, as a landscape/wildlife photographer, I still get click-baited into watching videos from youtubers with enormous followings, which leave me wondering why I bothered.
 
myotis said:
I'm content to simply feel I have some greater (and potentially useful) insight into photographs, photographers or photography than I did before watching it.. Several of the Crit house videos have been about sequencing/culling images (with the photographer) for exhibition or publication, and I found those discussion interesting.
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I'll have a look for them. (y)

myotis said:
I still get click-baited into watching videos from youtubers with enormous followings, which leave me wondering why I bothered.
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Been there, got the t-shirt.
 
myotis said:
I agree about the name, and, having watched all of the posts (except for the most recent) they do vary a lot but experience has shown I have lower standards than you do !!
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I've just had another look and remembered the reason I gave the channel a swerve. I find 'zoom' type presentations completely unwatchable. Talking heads in little boxes is a turn off for me. :(
 
Ed Sutton said:
I've just had another look and remembered the reason I gave the channel a swerve. I find 'zoom' type presentations completely unwatchable. Talking heads in little boxes is a turn off for me. :(
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I didn't even think about it, and until your post had forgotten that it was on zoom or something similar. The advantage, of course, is that they can bring together people from all over the world. So in spite of of its US base, for example Jamie Windsor, Alex Kilbee and Sean Tucker from the UK have all taken part in the broadcasts. There was also someone "famous" took part in one. So famous I've forgotten who it was !
 
myotis said:
The advantage, of course, is that they can bring together people from all over the world. So in spite of of its US base, for example Jamie Windsor, Alex Kilbee and Sean Tucker from the UK have all taken part in the broadcasts.
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There's one name there I make sure I avoid. :exit: And one I've not heard of.

I have noticed photo Youtbers (phototubers?) are starting to crop up on each other's channels and it's getting a bit incestuous. Seems to be a trend though - it goes on in the farming channels I look at too. Worlds within worlds.
 
Ed Sutton said:
There's one name there I make sure I avoid. :exit: And one I've not heard of.

I have noticed photo Youtbers (phototubers?) are starting to crop up on each other's channels and it's getting a bit incestuous. Seems to be a trend though - it goes on in the farming channels I look at too. Worlds within worlds.
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Yes, there is something incestuous about youtubers developing a "youtube photography" community. For many people I fear that this is now seen as defining photography and photographers.

I should have pointed out that many (most, maybe all) of the videos are showing full screen photographs or a single speaker discussing/presenting something most of the time. It isn't a full video of four heads talking to each other.
 
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I can't get enough of Daniel Meadows. Even though he makes me realise that I'm just p***ing about with the photos I take. New website with lots of great stuff on it - https://www.danielmeadows.co.uk/

Video of him talking about his archive.

Daniel Meadows - 50 years of The Free Photographic Omnibus

Photographer Daniel Meadows is a pioneer of contemporary British documentary practice. A photographer, documentarian and digital storyteller, he has spent his life recording British society, challenging the status quo by working in a collaborative way to capture extraordinary aspects of ordinary...
podcasts.ox.ac.uk podcasts.ox.ac.uk
 
myotis said:
I didn't even think about it, and until your post had forgotten that it was on zoom or something similar. The advantage, of course, is that they can bring together people from all over the world. So in spite of of its US base, for example Jamie Windsor, Alex Kilbee and Sean Tucker from the UK have all taken part in the broadcasts. There was also someone "famous" took part in one. So famous I've forgotten who it was !
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YouTubers featuring other YouTubers is a huge turn off me. It's lazy and unimaginative.. there are great photographers out there and it would be easy to curate and give them a platform but they don't.
 
benc98 said:
YouTubers featuring other YouTubers is a huge turn off me. It's lazy and unimaginative.. there are great photographers out there and it would be easy to curate and give them a platform but they don't.
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Have you looked at the site?

I'm pretty sure that people like Sam Abell, Ed Kashi and Phil Penman don't have Youtube channels, indeed without putting a lot of thought into it, I suspect the majority of people featured probably don't have Youtube channels, but are working photographers, academics and curators.

I've posted a few times about the site, and I only mentioned those particular Youtubers in this particular post, because they were from the UK (its an American site) all and have been mentioned favourably by other people in other posts, because they aren't typical Youtubers.

I still think it's one of the best Youtube channel I've come across
 
myotis said:
Have you looked at the site?

I'm pretty sure that people like Sam Abell, Ed Kashi and Phil Penman don't have Youtube channels, indeed without putting a lot of thought into it, I suspect the majority of people featured probably don't have Youtube channels, but are working photographers, academics and curators.

I've posted a few times about the site, and I only mentioned those particular Youtubers in this particular post, because they were from the UK (its an American site) all and have been mentioned favourably by other people in other posts, because they aren't typical Youtubers.

I still think it's one of the best Youtube channel I've come across
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I have come across it and enjoyed a few episodes in the past - the reason why what you said resonated with me was because the last few times I've been on YouTube - the algorithm served me videos from the cirit house featuring the list of photographers you mentioned in the previous post . To be fair, I enjoy watching videos from Jamie Windsor, Sean Tucker, etc.. but just think it's unimaginative to feature other youtubers when there is so many other people out there you could platform
 
benc98 said:
I have come across it and enjoyed a few episodes in the past - the reason why what you said resonated with me was because the last few times I've been on YouTube - the algorithm served me videos from the cirit house featuring the list of photographers you mentioned in the previous post . To be fair, I enjoy watching videos from Jamie Windsor, Sean Tucker, etc.. but just think it's unimaginative to feature other youtubers when there is so many other people out there you could platform
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I agree it's probably going to the easiest to just feature other Youtubers, because they have the obvious benefit of it being advertising for their own youtube channels,

But are you suggesting he should exclude the few Youtubers, he includes, who might have something interesting to say, just because they have Youtube channels. Jeff has already said he is including youtubers that he has found valuable in his learning of photography

And, with the exception of the recently included Samuel Lintaro, who I believe has a good enough, but "standard" youtube channel. I am very happy with the inclusion of people like Dan Milnor, Alex Kilbee etc who I believe have something useful to say within the context of how I see the Crithouse. I still find the contribution from academics and curators who don't have youtube channels the more valuable, but that's because they bring a perspective that is more difficult to find out about.

None the less, given the overall quality of the people he has pulled together, it seems a bit unfair to criticise the use of a few "higher quality" youtubers.
 
I found this last night. I made a whole post about it, but when I re-read it this morning, I'd clearly had too much wine. It's about movie directing (and Spielberg), but in terms of compositional genius, I was a bit blown away. I found quite a lot of synergy to photography, even though it's ostensibly a video about movie directing.

View: https://youtu.be/ItbCLh4Auoo?si=psgjIO64plXgVxCo
 
Harlequin565 said:
I found this last night. I made a whole post about it, but when I re-read it this morning, I'd clearly had too much wine. It's about movie directing (and Spielberg), but in terms of compositional genius, I was a bit blown away. I found quite a lot of synergy to photography, even though it's ostensibly a video about movie directing.

View: https://youtu.be/ItbCLh4Auoo?si=psgjIO64plXgVxCo
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I hadn't come across the term staging and blocking before, but I've done a few courses on making films, and it's been mentioned a few times about how still photographers coming to movies often bring a sense of composition (which is what Staging seems to be) with them, but usually need to work hard at the storytelling part.

My favourite books on composition for stills photographs (apart from some more theoretical ones on dynamic symmetry and the harmonic armature) are designed for animation and film making.

The four I own are (f anyone is interested) are:

"Sketchbook: Composition Studies for Film" by Hans B Bacher. (2015)

"Color and Composition for Film" by Hans B Bacher (2015)

'Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers" by Marco Mateu-Mestre (2010)

"Framed Ink 2: Frame Format, Energy, and Composition for Visual Storytellers" by Marco Mateu-Mestre (2020)

All four are mainly pictures and are illustrated with storyboard type illustrations showing how composition. colour, lighting, juxtaposition of images, as well as juxtaposition of subjects ec in the images can convey mood and and convey a message that contributes to the story. As all the illustrations are of individual drawings, it's easy to translate what is being said into stills photography.

Every so often, I will take one of these books off the shelf and just browse through the pictures and skim the text. Hoping to almost subliminally learn something :)

The other book that seems to get universal praise for understanding composition, which is not aimed at film making, but still feels appropriate to mention, is "Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang (2000).

Although the first four books also cover this (but in. a different way) , one of the key aspects of Bang's book is about learning that composition isn't really about where you put the subject, but about how the visual weight of different colours, tones, textures, shapes and sizes of the picture components interact..
 
myotis said:
how still photographers coming to movies often bring a sense of composition (which is what Staging seems to be) with them, but usually need to work hard at the storytelling part.
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I find the storytelling part hard in stills photography too. Thanks for the book recommendations though. I'll be sure to have a browse!
Watching the video, I did feel a bit like a noob when it comes to composition, and it was something I thought I had down fairly well.

Always more to learn eh?

Edit to add: I quite liked that channel. There was a video on Christopher Nolan and Memento which goes into storytelling in a lot more detail. Very clever stuff.
 
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I wonder if these 'masters of composition' consciously think about any of the academic explanations/deconstructions of what they've done when they're framing/arranging shots?
 
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