Comments on: ability to tell…. https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/ burn is an online feature for emerging photographers worldwide. burn is curated by magnum photographer david alan harvey. Sat, 18 Jun 2016 10:52:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.4 By: Akaky https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-81098 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:35:25 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-81098 If all stories are the same stories, then it seems to me that we can save ourselves a lot of time and effort by just reading the dictionary from beginning to end. That way we’ve read all the stories before they turn into stories and so we can go spend our time doing something productive, like watching nature documentaries on Animal Planet or do an in-depth and scholarly analysis of Hungarian porn sites. And why are we back to this thread, I wonder?

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By: Thodoris Tzalavras https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-81091 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:16:59 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-81091 John,

I stand with you up to a point.
When I first look at any given picture, my initial reaction is just like yours.
It either works on its own, or it doesn’t.

But (and this is a big but) when I learn background information about the conditions under which the picture was created, the photographer’s intentions, or when I get to see more work of the same photographer or of the same subject matter, this information does in fact alter (even if a tiny bit) my first reaction to the work.

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By: bob black https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-81090 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:49:15 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-81090 John G:

agree completely……

the image IS the story…period….

just as the word IS the story…

as much as i try to write about the pictures/stories here, in the end, the images are what matter….my own photographic work is defined by that too…

the only disagreement i have is that, for me, the SINGLE picture (in the context of a ‘story’) is NOT enough for me….i don’t give a rat’s arse (in my own work) if every photograph is good…i string pictures together (some, i trust, good, some not) to make one version of one picture: that is the story’s picture…

when i published Bones here i think it was 68 pictures…maybe 3 or 4 interesting photographs, but for me it was their cumulative bond that made up 1 visual picture…the story…well, that always was something private and confused/angered/bored a lot of commentators, and that is ok…

i do not want photographs to illustrate a story….

i want the pictures TO BE the story….whatever that story means (or does not) to the viewer

because ALL STORIES ARE THE SAME STORY….

just as all our lives’ stories are the same stories, only the details are particular….

and they all end the same, no matter the detail…

no getting around that…

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By: Mike R https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-81089 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:47:32 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-81089 John, I’m almost with you. I posted this under Dany’s essay

“Danny’s photographs are a good example of how a photograph can deliver information and at the same time transcend the message and become an object in its own right. When this happens you catch yourself thinking “wow, great photograph!” and then realise that the great photograph (in terms of lighting, composition etc.) depicts horror or despair. It’s quite unsettling but reinforces the power of the message.

I really want as much information as possible … “Input! Input! … but agree that a photograph can have a life of it’s own, I’m thinking of the photograph by Philip Jones Griffiths showing a Viet-Cong soldier in Vietnam who had been fighting for (as I remember) days with a bowl tied to his burst abdomen after being wounded. Such a wound induces thirst but one marine says that the soldier can drink paddy water. Another says that anyone who can fight with such a wound can drink out of my canteen and I’d be proud of it. The scene was copied in the film Apocalypse Now but, as Marlon Brando goes to give the man a drink someone shouts “Surf’s Up!” and he turns, spilling the water! You know the scene.

Another example is the photograph of the traumatised marine used as backdrop in some recent Wikileaks announcements. Taken by Don McCullin in Vietnam, it is now being used to illustrate the effect of war, but the war being debated is Afghanistan; whereas I know that the photograph comes from Vietnam, but many T.V. viewers won’t. So information is important to me as it expands my understanding but, as historical documents, I’d bet that the photographs have a longer life that the words associated with them.

Mike.

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By: a civilian-mass audience https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-81085 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:42:46 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-81085 JOHNG…amazing standing point…!!!

If you don’t wanna stand alone though…
I can copy and paste …you…
We are All in the …letter to friends…:))))))

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By: john gladdy https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-81082 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:39:05 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-81082 BUMP!

“”””what is most important for you as a viewer: the story or the ability to tell it ?””””

This one has been gnawing away at me for a while.
You see from where I stand its neither of the above.
It always has to be the power of the image(s).
Dont care about the story.
Dont care about the who what why or when.
When I look at fashion work I dont give a fig what its selling…just whether the image holds up unsupported.
when I look at documentary work… I dont care at all about the story behind the imagery,just whether the images hit that spot that makes you go WOW!
Music work just the same. There are killer shots I love from the fifties/sixties where I have no clue who the artist is.(nor care)..and yet the pictures fly.
Salgado, McCullen, Griffiths…can look at their work all day long without EVER needing to know the whatwherewhenhow of them.
I believe the best of images are entities in themselves. They are strong enough to have their own gravity field.
Whether this was ever intentional on the part of the photographer is not a particular concern either.
The ownership of an image is always with the viewer at the moment of viewing. And therefore the right to interpret it as they wish, with or without supporting materials/information.

So I would like to add a third category to what is important (to some)…The Image as a stand alone ‘whole’.

A minority postion I am sure, but surely not a unique one.(and just a position, not a solid fact)
As photographers we are surely engaged in storytelling for the most part…but can the image itself not be the story, with a new twist in the telling for every new viewer?
Seperate from the surrounding scaffold of words and facts and ‘concrete’ information?

I would say that it can, and does, at least for me.

interested if i stand alone here :)

john

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By: Herve https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76363 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:56:09 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76363 “photography is about…. Photography”. Yep! :-)
Yes, congrats, and bravo, it’s not often that photography, the idea of, makes it in the News.

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By: panos skoulidas https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76300 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:53:47 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76300 Charles…super gongrats

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By: mw https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76292 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:17:02 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76292 Jeez Charles, I had a mental picture of you looking like Kurt Cobain. Now I see you’re more the Michael Stipe type. Anyway, looks like a great thing to do. Congrats. And that was a pretty well shot and edited piece for local news. That producer might go places.

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By: Charles Peterson https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76289 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:10:47 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76289 GORDON,

Now that makes me smile! :)

CP

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By: Gordon Lafleur https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76269 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:48:49 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76269 Hey Charles

Very cool.
Looks like you, DAH and myself all part our hair the same way.

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By: eva https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76243 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:12:11 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76243 Charles, hi, cool!! Thanks for sharing, nice!

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By: marcin luczkowski https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76235 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:50:30 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76235 Charles

cool! :)

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By: Ross Nolly https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76232 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:21:18 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76232 That’s pretty damn cool Charles! :-)

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By: Charles Peterson https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76229 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:02:31 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76229 ALL,

I was on the local evening news tonight, with a profile piece on the rock photography camp I taught this summer. I hate watching/hearing myself but thought you might all enjoy it. :) It was a great experience teaching these kids and I guess I will be doing it again next year.

Best,

Charles

http://www.king5.com/video?id=102010408&sec=549122

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76225 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:49:14 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76225 CATHY…

well, well, look who is back in town..nice to hear from you…welcome back….you are one of my very earliest bloggers…you and Marcin….to add to your text, no, i never felt any rush to publish ever..i always thought this was a mistake so many photographers tend to make…i guess it is natural and the instant gratification gene is in all of us, but once you have resisted the temptation of the “rush” then you can take your time and really see how the work wears or lives…so i think you have the right attitude on this…by the way, the American Family work was just exhibited in the spring in Madrid and is now somewhere else in Spain and will move around a bit…however, i am still shooting on it as well..that is one work in progress which has no ending anyway….so a part, the whole, no diff….anyway, as always, i look forward to your latest work

cheers, david

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By: Herve https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76219 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:35:07 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76219 Charles Peterson…. Just borrowed “WHO SHOT ROCK’N’ROLL” from the library, and fell upon your “MOSH PIT” image. One of the best, if not the best in the book (and all the great rock photographers are in that book). I wonder if you think it would have also been a great shot in color, or maybe too woodstocky.

Anyway, RESPECT, Charles! this one may not seem so, as a thumbnail, but definitely more than the sum of its parts (and there are a lot of in there!), which great photography is all about:

http://knopf.knopfdoubleday.com/marketing/buckland/moshpit_web.jpg

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By: Thomas Bregulla https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76216 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:48:21 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76216 Got ur shirt? http://www.flickr.com/photos/tfelix/4946013737/

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By: Sidney Atkins https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76215 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:38:17 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76215 DAH,

As I’m sure you know better than me, you have been upgraded from “Hurricane Watch” to “Hurricane Warning” (which means, OK folks, fasten your seatbelts!)… and it looks like it will be Thursday evening to Friday morning when the brunt of the storm hits your area. Needless to say, a ‘rush’…

Yesterday (as Gordon L. can also attest, I’m sure) our first fall storm blew through our corner of the Pacific Northwest… lots of wind and rain. I thought of you as I watched the tree limbs bent horizontal in the wind and the rain slashing down. We don’t get hurricanes here but many of our fall and winter storms from the North Pacific approach “Tropical Storm” intensity, with sustained winds of 45 mph or more and gusts to 65 mph and above (back some years we even got occasional gusts to 90, but I can’t remember it happening in the last several years). Later in the fall these storms will be lined up one after the other all the way from Hawaii to here (thus the name “pineapple express”) and they will hit at roughly 16 hour to 24 hour intervals for days at a time, or even weeks. But this next few days, after the first storm has emphatically told us that summer is now over, it looks like we will get a reprieve and a Labor Day weekend of pretty good weather for a last fling. I’m off to rendezvous with a long-lost buddy from my wild youth in Idaho who is now a rescue vessel captain working northern Puget Sound out of Port Townsend, and I’m praying I don’t embarass myself by getting seasick… I’ve spent a lot of time on the water over the years in boats of all sizes, from sea kayaks and dorys to freighters and sea-going ferries, been in a number of typhoons at sea in Asia, and sometimes I am fine and love it, sometimes I confess I get really sick, and there’s no telling ahead of time which it will be. It all depends on the rhythm of the chop or swell in relation to the size of the boat and the angle of the roll.

Anyway, despite your justifiable worries about your home, I’m sure you’ll have fun in this hurricane and get an adrenaline rush… so enjoy it, and I hope all goes well.

Cheers,

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By: cathy scholl https://www.burnmagazine.org/dialogue/2010/07/ability-to-tell/#comment-76213 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:19:59 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=6809#comment-76213 DAH and ALL…

Just stopping in for a quick HI.

I am so busy shooting, editing, blog posting and so forth these days that I don’t have time to comment.
A good reason for not being here!

DAH I am “collecting” work to show you. I have still not finished editing India and yet I’m already getting ready to return in November. Which brings me to my question/comment…

I see above you mention having your Outer Banks work published in June 2011. I realize this has much to do with the “magazine world” and not just your personal schedule but I’ve been thinking lately (and am getting ready to do a blog post on the subject) that for many “emerging” photographers there is this big RUSH to get work out…one week after returning from a trip some photographers already have a gallery on their website, a blog post, a podcast, a self published book, hundreds of tweets and facebook posts about it, etc…whereas the work of established photographers sometimes does not get shown for years. I’m wondering what the rush is for some of us? (Myself not included.)

In the past I’ve felt guilty about not rushing to get work out like many of my friends but I’m now seeing the value in waiting. We all work at our own pace obviously. I’m finally honoring my process rather than trying to conform!

For example…I’m thinking about my time at the Kumbh Mela in February. Every day I see more and more work from fellow photographers. I’ve posted some of my own and yet I’ve seen only one or two images so far from Steve McCurry who was also there. Another example is DAH’s family project. In the beginning we saw some (amazing) work but as far as I know it’s been a long time since any of that work has been shown.

I don’t know if there’s a question here or not other than what’s the big hurry for everyone to show new work and what are the reasons (if any) for taking one’s time in showing work. This topic interests me…if anyone has anything to share I’d like to hear it. Thanks!

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