bruce gilden’s haiti work as magnum in motion “The Spirit Lives Here”

Damn straight! Thanks for saying all that.

Cheers.

a quick note about having Bruce here (paid) and the other Iconic photographers published/being published.

I shout out: GREAT! :)))

i will be blunt. I want to have my photography shown, exhibited, published, looked at with any other photogrpaher. I want my own work to be seen with the greats of photography and with the unknowns. I want it all to be even. in fact, i HATE this whole thing about ‘emerging’. what does that mean. I never became a photographer thinking, ‘someday i want to be like david harvey or moriyama or frank or giacomelli or ackerman or d’agata or sally mann or witken or marker, etc’ I just wanted to make photographs.

I think photography is NOT/NEVER about verticality. There is no ‘moving up’ in the world of photography. of course we learn and develop and mature, but all great photography moves me no matter who does it. And i think having iconic photogrpahers here only enhances the work of those ‘unknown’ because it proves that there are no real divisions, that it is all equal, that what matters is the work, not the name.

I once was lucky and honored to have been asked to exhibit a photograph in a group exhibition in Hong Kong with some of my hero’s: moriyama and araki, as well as with a number of chinese photographers who are no rich and famous (rong rong and danwen) and at the time, i was really really humbled, but also i thought, what better way to show that photography is about communication and expression, not about name and glory. suffice it to say, i’ve never been as happy with my own solo exhibitions then i was that time, with the exception of an exhibition i had with marina and dima and then the BURN exhibition in NYC and Washington. because those exhibitions were about community and celebrating the role of all photogrpahy, all styles and ages and experiences.

I was not paid for Bones of Time and if I am fortunate enough to have Loomings published (something i’ve made exclusively for david and anton), i don’t care either if i get paid, vis-a-vis bruce/alec/paolo/laura etc. What i care about is that this magazine celebrates photogrpahy…..celebrates each other…

what great promotion of young/emerging photogrpahers than to be in the same edition as harvey/gilden/anderson/parr/nachtwey/mann/ballen etc…..

i say BRING IT ON….the known the iconic and the unknow…it is all good….

i’m with Erica: i think it is BRILLIANT that this magazine that began on Road Trips has turned into a magazine and a publisher of stories and books and other things…and I’m thankful, every fucking day for DAvid’s belief in all of us….

meaning: david’s belief in all of YOU!….

raise high the roofbeems…

hugs
bob

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on being published in BURN! I say this without the slightest bit of irony because i think it is not only a great magazine but also a great outlet for a photographers work. I say that as both a photographer/writer who has had the honor of being published by BURN but also as a friend and supporter of this great place and of david. You may not remember me, but i’m the friend of David’s who told you, at the Drake, (after wine but before the Patron) that: ‘you have beautiful eyes, they are like my grandmother’s'…..so, i hope you still don’t think i’m totally insane ;))

More importantly, not all members of Magnum (or others) have had the opportunity to showcase their work, so I think it is fantasitic that both you choose and were chosen to share your long-term project here.

Anyway, about the work:

To begin with, it is very interesting to read the comments. I think the HARDEST thing for a photographer (or any artist, writer, musician, barber, etc) is to fight with EXPECTATION. As a photographer, I struggle with this all the time, fight with it really. What i expect my work to look like and result in, but also what other’s expect and i am, nor my work, is anywhere the calibre of Gilden’s. Bruce as such an inimitable style and for street photography is really sui generis, that anything, i am anything Gilden does is going to conflict with what others expect a Gilden photo/series to look like. For that alone, i celebrate this work, just as i celebrated Bruce’s work in Fort Myers (i city i know well) and detroit, as very much defying my own expectations. Actually, there is something much more subtle that is going on here than might be snatched at first glance. This is NOT the Gilden of Go or the Gilden of NYStreet face/flash/crash…..this is a gilden that is much more ‘distant’…in other words, a gilden that i met (in person) that is trying to pull the lives of these people to the fore, rather than the life of the ‘photograph’….

I love that he moves from ‘home’ and architecture (the shacks) to portrait and back and forth so that over time the viewer actually begins to SEE not poverty and blight and squalor (although it is there) but humanity. The homes begin to look loving and tender, built with idosyncratic tenderness. This happens after looking at it a number of times and seeing that in almost every face, even the sleeping ones, there is a smile, a laugh, a gentleness…these people are incredibly loving and warm to the viewer…and that is what Bruce has captured…and the misery comes from knowing that these people sill suffer so much…it is an incredibly nuanced and subtle approach….

i dare anyone to keep looking…click house, click portrait, click house, click portrait…you’ll see it after a number a viewings….

the portraits are both soulful and simple…no photographic pyrotechnics…just expression and moment. a sharing….and those boxes and homes…i too love to photogrpah houses/boxes (actually they make up a large part of Loomings) for the visual design…the painterly element…but also a house, built, always reminds me of humanity, of us….what matter way to udnerstand people, a nation then to look at their homes……what do all our mcmansions tell us about ourselves….

so, congratulations Bruce for a beautiful and sublte and tender and PAST-EXPECTATIONS essay….this is in direct relationship to the work you did in Fort Myers…and the funny thing: you seemed to have found more openness, more love, more caring in these faces, in these lives than in the golf course homes in Lee County……

powerful, subtle work….i would ask viewers to not think ‘gilden’ and look at this series a number of times again….

all the best
bob

<3

just to be 100% clear, Panos’ Venice work came in before we started paying commissions, but the work was a mentored and edited assignment from me from Burn, as were the Greek riots and Alec Soth…the discussion was not about money though was it, but more about having a chance to produce on demand??

if you were talking about who got paid to go on original assignment here from Burn, then yes you are right, and Gilden got paid and Panos did not…if this is specifically the case in question, then i stand corrected on your very specific comment…IF tomorrow i sent Panos out to shoot Venice, then he would be compensated as well…that was then and this is now, and also remember that when Panos shot Venice, i had no clue if Panos actually could pull it off….as it turns out he did…and was duly published here as well as in Burn 01 and on the big screen presentation at Look3..so i feel Panos rewarded and now on deck for whatever he comes up with next…

in the time that Burn has existed i have watched photographers grow…some who were totally unknown as photographers have now picked up a following..like Panos, like Laura, like Anton, like Patricia, like Erica,like Mike Y, like Kyunghee Lee, like Audrey, etc etc…this is my stated and only goal here..to give the worthy a break…i have taken my time, and sometimes funding if possible, and given it to these photographers so they may make a mark if so deserved…

i think, but not 100% sure , the first paid assignment here was to Laura for her original work on Egypt…next was to Paulo Pellegrin whose original work you will see upcoming in Burn02…please go back a few dialogue posts and all is revealed…

so the payments for original new on demand work are skewed so far in favor of the iconic yet the funds overall are skewed in favor of the emerging…

actually stands to reason…as an editor the iconic are iconic for a reason..most likely to come back with the work…however, ready to give a newcomer a chance at any point IF i think they can do it…

again, 95% of whatever funds we have here to give photographers still goes to the emerging photogs…i think what happened here Mark is that you were giving a specific case, and i was generalizing…

if Panos had an essay publishing tomorrow, he too would receive compensation…things have evolved here over time…by the way, and i have written this a few times here, Panos does deliver on demand….he is very very good at taking a fast assignment here and delivering….Panos is dependable and fast and makes very interesting work and would actually, perhaps ironically, make a good day in and day out working photographer with a real flair…

in general what we want to set up here is a venue for young emerging photographers to perhaps at least get a break..get some exposure…get known for either being able to produce on demand or be funded even if the photographer has no interest or ability to shoot on demand…the on demand component is not a prerequisite, just something to be noted..many assume a good photographer can automatically “do it” anytime, which is of course not the case…the financial comp is token at best no matter what except for the EPF grant which really allows some new work to be done…

again, so so sorry if i misunderstood you Mark…transparency is always my intent here…occasionally i literally forget what i did in sequence..that is why my whole biz plan here is HERE..we can always go back and see that everything is a matter of record…

in any case, would welcome any ideas you may have for original independent work ..for you…from you…we do not have a budget here to just throw money here and there, so we must be judicious, but if you have a truly brilliant idea, then we would be likely to go for it…

cheers, david

I know! :)
I’m just a big, big fan of your work.

Sorry, crashed earlier.. now out shooting.. explain, how do you explain the urge, that bug sitting in not only your brain, but your soul too, the MUST go out looking for someting you don’t know if you’ll get it, see it, FEEL it most of all.. not for others.. the thing that is the answer to the ‘what and why do I do it’.. yet if looking at others work there comes that YES… uhmm, sorry, it feels so clearly in my mind, words are just words..

(Paul, not underrating anything, just knowing where I stand, that’s healthy)

Well said :-)

Patricia. Yes, photographs that stay with you. I carry a lot of great photographs around in my head with me, some by great photographers, some of my own, and some old family snaps.

DAH, yes, Bruce Davidson came to mind early in this discussion as someone who’s prolific and consistent. I bought Inside Outside last year. These books are far and away my favourites of all the photo books I own. I’m astounded by them. Interestingly, he has also been a commercial shooter, which will have had a role in building his discipline and chops.

Much amazing work over the years is the result of commissions for money. Work on demand, discipline and chops. Think Sistine Chapel and Rembrandt, or Bach. Some of my photographic heroes are people who did their own thing, but also could produce on demand, and produced large bodies of work. Steichen, Penn, Avedon, Art Kane, Meyerowitz, Neil Slavin, Sam Haskins, and many others. Amazing skills, amazing imagry all. There is a contemporary list of photographers I admire as well.

We all have bags of tricks. Every photograph is a trick. Technical skills, or visual tricks, include knowing how to mix flash with ambient light, using slow shutter speeds to make creative use of blur, using exposure controls to place a subject in silhouette, high key or low key, photoshop skills, film developement tricks, etc etc etc. Other skills or trick include cultivating that HBC eye, unusual angles, awkward or otherwise moments, compositional cliche’s on and on, etc etc etc. Sometimes..maybe too often for us older folks, we rely too readily on our bags of tricks. This is the advantage of the young and in-experienced.

Love ya all. Let’s fill our canvas’s

——————–

Very good words, indeed. I have been lucky enough to have a mentor, and it has helped me tremendously. Just as great, I have had the opportunity to meet (online and in person) other photographers that have given me so much information, motivation and perspective. Taking all that together makes shooting kind of like treasure hunting. Mentors/advisors/self evaluations all act like clues to your destination.

Lift a glass to all those photographers who have helped others find their way.