i am not a fisherman….if you want to catch a fish, do not go fishing with me… i bring almost as much bad luck to fishing as i do to computers…i did catch a pretty good sized bass once with my grandfather, but that is about it….but, never mind, i do love the thought of fishing….and i live in a place where if the talk is not about surfing, it is about fishing…and i end up staying pretty silent on both…down here on the Outer Banks, my trade is just not in the conversational mix…in New York of course, photographers have some clout, but here, well, if i wanted to talk photography, i would have to take a picture of the locals with a big fish, or riding a big wave…
i do however gravitate towards the 7 fishing piers here, and most often the Avalon Pier….if this pier did not exist, then it would have to be invented…a classic structure from the 50’s which has survived many a storm and not survived many a storm…but, this old pier just keeps getting re-built and is a cultural haven if fishing, pool playing, fuzbol competition and people watching are your game…the latter is my sport of choice…someday i suspect this primo waterfront property will end up covered with time-share condos or whatever, but in the meantime i can go have a beer and watch the waves roll in between rounds of 8-ball…
the beauty of Avalon for me is that it is a total diversion for whatever i am supposed to be seriously doing…i suspect all of you have your Avalon…an escape from the must do activities of your day….a place where nobody really knows what you do, nor cares, and you are only judged by whether they like you or not…well, in the case of Avalon, if you have a big jacked-up pickup truck, that helps, but i just have to go on eye contact and a decent game of pool….
now, i basically have not worn shoes for weeks….but the summer of my content is almost over…..and the timing of the sun working its way towards the south each day pretty much matches my mood to get back to New York…funny, but when i tell the guys down here that i spend lots of time in New York, they really give me a look of sympathy…..and having spent weeks here this summer i am starting to see what they mean…
it is a good thing i had so much leisure time this summer…because now i go full bore into a very busy fall….i receive so many private emails from readers here asking for my schedule, so here is the official dah program…
first order of business will be your Burn gallery shows in New York and Washington (contact for you: Michael Courvoisier)…simultaneously i have my fall workshop schedule starting in San Francisco where i do a short weekend shooting seminar – starting September 25th – with the Momenta folks organizing(see Workshops)……
then comes my annual loft seminar “At Home” in the now historic “kibbutz” where about half the readers here have been at one time or another, and the other half are on their way…we will also do your Burn gallery show right around that time … incidentally, i have our first Burn intern, Vivek Manik, who has come all the way from Calcutta, to give us a hand with the show….Vivek will be a work/study student in the loft class….from now on i will always choose someone from the readership here on Burn to be an intern either in New York or with me on assignment…
after the New York Burn show, i roll back down here to the Outer Banks for my first gathering of photographers at my beach home who want to publish books or work on an essay …we will do hand-made books and discuss and prepare layouts for mainstream books as well….others may just want to shoot instead of make a book…their choice…my darkroom will be set-up…the pigment printer at the ready etc….my Outer Banks beach cottage will become for sure my #1 workshop location, but for very small selective classes…
at the end of October, i roll down to Oaxaca, Mexico for the colorful Day of the Dead class (see work from students last year on workshop link) …. and finally, capping off my month of mentoring, i will join my friends Ira Block and Kris LeBoutillier, both NatGeo photogs, in Bangkok and Phnom Penh in early November…
so anyone wanting to join me with my obviously eclectic lifestyle has a few choices……afterwords i plan to disappear into a magazine assignment….shhhh, secret…. and work only on my book project which is a bit behind…well, i am always a bit behind on book projects……anyway, lots going on…
all this world travel and setting up of exhibit space for your work is hard work , but fun work…but, without Mike, Michelle, and Marie, i just could not make it…Mike Courvoisier makes my collectors prints, will manage the Burn shows, and runs the New York loft workshop … Michelle Smith and Marie Arago run the OBX beach and Mexico workshops respectively …Michelle has produced ad shoots for me which is the test of all production tests…Marie worked for me every day in NYC before she moved to the warmer climes of Miami…. now, all of this has to do with balance….my main mantra…balance…making hard work fun and making fun hard work….or, actually , just getting the most out of life…
ok, enough said…. it is about time to head for Avalon…the wind now is starting to clock around from the northeast…that means good fishing, poor surfing, and winter is coming…
do all of you have your Avalon??? i do recommend creating an Avalon if you do not have one…to catch a fish?? maybe…but, that is not the point…the act of fishing is more important than catching fish…or, at least that is what i tell myself when i am fishing with my camera and it just is not happening…
-david alan harvey
one of my old camera bags goes to the first person who can name the movie that featured this house….
LASSAL,
I love your website… you seem very FOCUSed…!!!
yeah, need to work on that one, CIVI, you’re right. That was for my last exhibition – a last minute anchor. Baaaaaaad!
:-)
Ok. I am off now … I will run and try to be back in time for the interview.
MR. DAVID ALAN HARVEY,
Thank you for your amazing idea to have another friend over …!!!
KATIE and all the BURNIANS are very excited with MR.PARR…
hmmm…is he one of the Monty Pythons???
Well,all ( first of all myself) …I am expecting to behave as true BURNIANS.
remember MRS.ALESSANDRA…hmmm…YOU can raise the bar .
VIVA !!!
P.S I will be watching YOU …
(CIVI – the BURN ranger)
:-)) love it!
LASSAL,
RUN my LADY, RUN …tick,tack,tick,tack
ALL…
Martin Parr will come on live here today on Burn at 6pm GMT…that will be 1pm new york time and well, you can figure out the rest…four hours from this comment posting….again, do not ask questions here or now…there will be a separate post….
cheers, david
Wonderful. Thanks to you and Mr. Parr in advance.
4am not a good time here in Oz.too late and too early sleep beckons
My question is….. Why would a bunch of 11 year olds (I was teaching digital photography) that saw your work reckon it is crap and that you don’t know how to take a proper pitcha.
ps they like the spaniel
hmmm…I am watching you…
as i said before…BURNIANS…raise the bar…( don’t ask me which one…:))))
P.S it feels weird here..the energy is weird …
hmmm…relax mates,
it’s only MR.PARR and we LOVE him…
easy does it – quite right mr/iss/rs. mass A.
martin once took his first photograph – i know that for a FACT..
DB,
you forgot the Civi…I feel naked without my civilian suit …
it’s getting cold …i need my coverage …I am not that strong as you BURNIANS …
brrrr…:)))
WHAT NOT TO LOVE !!!
P.S new dialogue is coming …hmmm…what will the name be???
the blue eyed son ??? Viva TCAPA…
Anton, I notice the link to Robertos website is not active.
Big thanks to Gordon, Kathleen and Ross for your insights about my Blue Mirror Project. You’ve helped me see my images with new eyes and I’ve changed the edit as a result. Of course, knowing me, I’ll keep changing it ad infinitum. That’s the challenge//gift of a longterm project — you just keep adding & subtracting as you go along. After only six months I have more images than I can keep track of. I keep them organized in folders according to where they were shot, but I still keep turning up ones I’d forgotten. It’s like a neverending scavenger hunt!
Patricia
Patricia, Gordon, Ross
Just wanted to say to you that my genre is not portrait photography and it´s not photojournalism where i have to engage people for assignments..my genre is the street and i stalk the unguarded moment when the mask drops. Only occasionally do i take street portraits. So that explains my reaction to the photos in the blue mirror project because i naturally look for the ripple that disturbs the surface. Gordon, you are hard-wired to judge the quality of portraits like Patricia´s and so your comments should carry a lot of weight for her. Ross, you are out there all the time documenting the human condition, talking to people, getting them to let you into their space, really much like what Pat is doing (i enjoyed your website, btw). You guys are pros, i´m just an observer of perfect strangers.
Gordon, you mentioned Avedon´s technique. Another strategy is Juergen Teller (love him or hate him). He apparently works models constantly, shooting, shooting, shooting without pause, waiting for the moment where they sneeze, get flustered, fatigued, slump..anything to break their cultivated poise. And when they do, that´s his photo. Bam, frozen by the flash, his couture model wiping her nose.
DAH
am so glad that i will be able to be here for the Jack Paar show..er…wait, whozit that´s coming again? Oh right. Martin, the rocker of bobby socks in Costa Rica but not 11 year olds in Oz.
CIVI
Drink up, my friend..it´s a BIG day here!
DAVID B
You know for a fact that he once took his first photograph. hahahahahaha, that´s great!
Best all
kathleen
Patricia
heh…was writing while you posted..thanks for the reply..good luck..i will keep checking your website for new stuff!
hugZ
k/
civilian CIVILIAN.. warm up there.. sending sun shine.. must be sending it, cause it ain’t here.
hope everyones been spreading word of martin joining us – looking forward to reading much more than asking, funnily enough..
ALL..
small disappointment…Martin Parr cannot come on until TOMORROW at this same time….i just spoke with him on the phone and something came up which altered his schedule….thank you for your patience…stay tuned…
cheers, david
Sorry I’ll have to miss Martin. I’ll be on my way into LaGuardia Airport at that time. Have fun and tell him “Hi” for me ;=)
Patricia
manchester :o)
MR.HARVEY,
no problem, as long as we have YOU…
BURNIANS can BURN the place down !!!
where else we can go ???…hmmmm….
P.S DAVIDB I am sending sun shine …now that I can see my name …on the screen :)))
KATIE…I am drinking horchata with vodka .VIVA !!!
UNIVERSE don’t touch that dial…
Oups, I am losing BURNIANS here…
Today is a little intense at work anyway. Probably wouldn’t have been able to pay close attention.
How do you keep a Burnian in suspense? I’ll tell you tomorrow.
Ditto here … but for me it will get worse tomorrow. Oh well …
ha – brian you card .. :o)
lassal – thanks for the links – have devoured the interviews therein..
roll on sunshine.
DavidB
let us keep in touch to meet in Brussels with Anton and Eric. My brother lives there with his little family and it would be great to visit & see everybody. I think Audrey wanted to join in, too.
Write me an email when you have your schedule. Looking forward to seeing you, Audrey and Eric again. And finally meeting Anton in person!!!
Well DavidB, the “genius of photography” links came from you originally. I remember sitting there for 6 hours in a row watching this amazing series, after you posted the link a year or so ago – it would not have been so bad it I had not started watching at 1am. It is always nice when you look outside your window and you realize that it is getting light again and you have not been to bed yet.
But have you noticed that Youtube/BBC took some parts out? Apparently they got problems with copyright. I think that just 2 or 3 of the 6 parts of episode 5 are left to be watched. What a shame… So I ended up buying the book. :-)
anton looks like a bubble… would be great to meet audrey n eric..
sounds good – thinking new year?
when is this meeting ???in Brussels???
hmm..
will shout if any plans come together civilian..
the genius of photography is really excellent viewing.. it’s a shame if it’s not viewable online anymore.. i’ll have a route about and see if it’s on dvd..
I have the whole series as AVI’s on a drive somedwhere. Never watched it yet.
Am I missing something?
JOHN
Well … it is a red thread through the history of photography. Well done, and very entertaining with examples, interviews etc. (hmmm … sounds boring when I write it, but it actually was not)
I guess for you it is going to be amusing to watch – I guess you know most of the facts, or at least most of the facts you care for. For me, instead, it was absolutely FANTASTIC a year ago. I had just met DAH, I just started to look at the whole photography thing with different eyes … and I knew I had just bits and pieces of the history of photography in my mind but I was far from having the whole picture. I had books, yes … texts … but I never had the time (never took it) to read them to get to a coherent picture. So this BBC link really came in quite handy. It provided something like a basic structure of cause and effects in the history of photography, which I could then fill up and add to according to my own taste. It is visual, so it was definitively better for me than to read a text. I think DavidB had his students watch the series … and yes, it is quite entertaining.
ok … I know that reading a text is visual too … but. Instead of 6 hours I would have spent more time getting the information together and sorting it out. And the well done mix of facts and oppinions by witnesses etc really sticked well to my mind. It was very effective.
ANNA B!
Almost missed that post …
Yes of course, there are always tumbleweeds to chase anywhere, anytime :))
I’m a couple hours from Seattle, how long you will be in the Emerald City?
hmmm, I see Martin Parr is described as a “Mischievous Ironist” in the title of a Lens Culture piece. Is that a word …
AKAKY, over to you …
DAH
boo-hoo! hope i can swing it tomorrow but will be a little late..
k-
sounds like an americanalizationalism to me
Kat
Photographing people without their masks.
Is it ever really possible to capture anyones true self, sans mask? Is a big smile a big mask? or a big frown? That we depend on such minute nuances to judge the expressions of other people is a fascinating subject on its own. Many classically autistic people for example are un-able to read facial expression or tone of voice.
The things that make up who a person is covers a huge spectrum. When we make a portrait, either deliberatly or unconciously, we choose the piece of the spectrum we want the portrait to suggest, and suggest is all we can do.
When I create a family portrait for example, I want to suggest certain things. Harmony, intimacy, mutual love and respect. The spectrum of who the family is certainly contains much more, but no-one has ever asked me to do a family portrait that suggests how much the kids fight, or the fact that one spouse is cheating on the other. At the core of their relationship, there is the ideal of harmony, intimacy and mutual respect that exists within all families. The portrait on their wall will help remind them of that.
If you are doing a portrait for a business magazine, likely you try to suggest whatever the thrust of the article suggests. If you are doing it for a newspaper, you might suggest any number of things, again depending on your point of view and what you are trying to say about the subject. Right wing publications will portray pres. Obama differently than left leaning one.
What really is the “TRUTH” in a portrait?
Irving Penn has died. His style of highly controlled fashion photography may not have appealed to many of the BURN audience’s photojournalist types, but he was undeniably one of the greats in American photography who created a very recognizable body of work that has had tremendous impact. NY Times/AP obit is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/07/us/AP-US-Obit-Irving-Penn.html
R.I.P.
“”"What really is the “TRUTH” in a portrait?”"”…..The eyes.
Hi all,
Still no time for writing here. lately I missed a lot of great discussions here and I will miss chat with mr. Parr probably. But I am so excited and honored that my photo will hang with many of yours on one exhibition. Thank you for that David.
And I would like to thank to generous sponsor of ours prints.
Of course I wish be on the opening but I can’t be with you.
Have a great time.
Take a lot pictures please :)
peace and love for all
I’ll be back (as soon as possible)
Sidney
Penns fashion work was brilliant and original, as was his huge body of personal work which was quite eclectic. Worlds in a small room is one of my all time favourite books. He was absolutely and original.
Should have read He was absolutely an original.
John G
While it is true that a persons eyes can betray their emotional state, I’m not sure that anyones emotional state at any given moment constitutes the “TRUTH” of who they really are. I’ve always been suspicious about the whole “windows to the soul” thing.
In any case, my point was that there is no single truth about who we really are. Claims of portraits “capturing the soul” or the “true essence” of a person are certainly overblown hyperbole.
Penn and Avedon were my idols and now they are both gone. It was Penn’s book, Worlds in A Small Room, that gave me the inspiration to start as a photographer. For me his portraits from around the world have never been bettered by anyone since. His platinum prints were a joy to behold when seen in real life. He was a total original and a truly dedicated photographer. Every subject that he shot was photographed with such honesty and passion.
A sad day for me……
Gordon
I agree with you entirely about your thoughts on truth in a portrait. So I was surprised to read in the obituary on the much-admired (myself included) notion that Penn’s portraits of the “aborigines” were searching after his subjects “true natures”. I respect his work no less for that. It only highlights how times have changed and along with it thoughts on such things as truth and what photography can or can’t do.
I think there’s a great deal more truth, (pardon the pun) in Avedon’s comment that a portrait can be very accurate…
“A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion …. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” – Richard Avedon, In the American West: Photographs, 1979-1984 from photoquotes.com
This type of thinking gave rise to wonderful video portraits (can’t recall who by but I think several artists have done it) where the subject is merely looking steadily, as steadily as possible, for several minutes into the lens. We get the picture that in portraiture there is only surface, accuracy, and the truth is only surface and accuracy, nothing deeper.
Expressions, beautiful or quirky are momentary. Unless you know the person well, there is no way of knowing how characteristic such expressions are. Do we take the photographer on faith? Most of the time I would say not. Best as Avedon does, assume the photographer is expressing herself, an opinion, or that the picture expresses the moment of the exchange that goes on between the photographer and subject.
AndreaC
I know you are posting a direct answer to a comment here, and that is probably where it should go best, but just in case you have not noticed: there is a new post from DAH up on Dialogue …
:-))
Lassal
Oh yes I know, but thanks for thinking of me. btw thank you so much for your links and info about Martin Parr. I am definitely one who needed to catch up and he has some interesting things to say. I can’t wait to read the transcript of tomorrow nights Q&A.
Some workshop fun…
http://www.iphonephotojournalist.org/
Erica is especially hard to shoot looking natural! Her perifferal vision is amazing!