the man is a teddy bear….a family man…he would much rather talk about his teenage daughter Nina and French wife Sophie than about photography…honesty is his best policy…. you never never have to worry about what he “really thinks”…i live in Brooklyn…..but, Bruce Gilden is Brooklyn….
many think Bruce “attacks”…i do not know this for sure, but i am imagining Bruce has had a least one of his subjects “attack back”…but, Bruce and i are as much on the “same page” as anyone i know in Magnum …we surely have opposite personalities and ways of working, yet we have exactly the same “code” for life regarding fairness, transparency, and family….
Bruce is now working on a project on foreclosures in the U.S….a hardball look at one of the primary reasons for the financial collapse in America and the folks who “lost it all”…
his new Magnum in Motion digs in deep and gives us a vision of a side of this country that most ignore…
when Bruce went to Florida for the opening series on foreclosures, he showed us a certain kind of sympathy that i just do not recall in his previous work…
my first impression of Bruce came with his book on “Coney Island”…then “Haiti”, then “Go”….i thought Bruce harsh , but irresistibly fascinating…and funny…i can never take my eyes off of Bruce’s pictures even though i might feel a bit guilty for “intruding”, even as the viewer….if Bruce appears somewhat cynical with his work , when you know him personally , he is more “realist” than cynic….there is a difference…..the man’s work reveals a part of his personality, but not all…there is a straight up kindness in Bruce Gilden..and nobody but nobody has a better sense of humor…
please keep your eye out for Bruce’s continued work with foreclosures….anybody can smell a book in the making…
i am only hoping that i do not become one of his subjects…..
Bruce rocks! I also love the fashion magazine. The printing for b&w is pretty amazing (imho) in it, and some shots are just classic (the girl throwing the rose into the grave surrounded by gangsters).
@DAH: if you’re coming to the UK, pop by Wales. Bruce shot a new year over here, which I didn’t see till last year in the magnum blog. It felt quite surreal.
Goodbye roadtrips – what a great journey it’s been.
AKAKY IRL: Are you eating that?
AKAKY: What?
AKAKY IRL: The tuna on a roll.
AKAKY: No, take it. Knock yourself out.
AKAKY IRL: Thanks.
AKAKY: You know something, I’m a main weapon. Panos says so right there.
AKAKY IRL: Good for him. I always knew you were a big tool. Didn’t need him to tell me that.
AKAKY: Thanks loads. Gina wants to clone me.
AKAKY IRL: Is that so?
AKAKY: And she wants to come back as me in her next life.
AKAKY IRL: Dude, I hesitate to point this out to you, but there is no demand for middle-aged overweight civil servants. None. There’s already too many of them on the market now. As for coming back as you in her next life, well, that seems a little silly to me, given that you don’t want to be you in this life.
AKAKY: That’s true. I wanted to be Bill Gates, but that little dweeb got there before me.
AKAKY IRL: Into every life, guy…
AKAKY: A little rain must fall, I know.
AKAKY IRL: You got it.
AKAKY: No, if I was Gates, I’d have it all. As it stands, all I’ve got is you and frankly, you’re no bargain.
AKAKY IRL: Likewise, I’m sure.
AKAKY: So who do you think the guy is?
AKAKY IRL: What guy?
AKAKY: The guy in the picture.
AKAKY IRL: I dunno. Could be you.
AKAKY: It could be but it ain’t. I don’t look anything like that.
AKAKY IRL: That’s true. Maybe it’s me.
AKAKY: You don’t look like that, either.
AKAKY IRL: You sure? It’s been a while since I’ve looked in the mirror.
AKAKY: Trust me on this one, it ain’t you.
AKAKY IRL: Beats the hell out of me then.
AKAKY: Me too.
AKAKY IRL: It’s good tuna fish, though.
AKAKY: Really? I should have had some of it then. I’m hungry.
AKAKY IRL: It’s gone.
AKAKY: You ate all that already?
AKAKY IRL: There wasn’t that much of it.
AKAKY: Jesus, guy, it’s no damn wonder you can’t see your feet without leaning over. You’re gonna choke shoving stuff into your piehole that fast.
AKAKY IRL: Tell me about it.
It was surprising to see the US looking like a third world country. Perhaps this has always been around, but the first time I can remember seeing it in the media was after Katrina. Bruce is showing the world in the best tradition of photojournalism, a hard/compassionate and truthful gaze at something people don’t want to look at. He makes it compelling enough that it’s not easy to look away. I could see his presentation fitting-in well at Visa pour l’image. I appreciate his work more now that I know more about photography. He has found a way of looking at the world and can re-examine the world from this personal view. It’s a place that many great artists have arrived at…you could see it in painters, once Picasso realized the cubist view of the world he progressed to re-examine everything around him. There are many examples of this in art history.