Classroom Memories of Garry Winogrand (pdf) (link)
Garry Winogrand from The Animals
- Everyone got an A in the class.
- No technique, but how to see.
- He made the student come to the conclusion. That there is a story. Pointed the way but in the wrong discussion. Raised the right question but gave the wrong answer. How do you get someone thinking along the right path without telling them what’s at the end of it? They will eventually get to the end, but they have to work for it. This is in contradiction to what he usually said: ‘Photos have no narrative content. They only describe light on surface’.
- No one could judge a print in 1/500th of a second like Garry.
- If he really liked a print he would stop and explain in detail what “was right” about the photograph. Of course if the shot was “done already,” “nothing happening here,” “no problem to overcome here” he was quick to let us know that too.’
- ‘A few weeks later I tacked that print on the wall and Garry instantly
- remembered seeing the photograph in the Texan. He didn’t like it. But he did like another I shot with a wide angle which offered the reaction of some of the patrons to the belly dancer.’
- Criteria for great photography is that it is always on the edge of failure. Tension that is about to break in the frame.
- Edit objectively. That is why he piled up work to edit later. Sounds like a convenient excuse.
- ‘He replied that few photographers make any real money in the business but even if you are broke it’s worth it.’
- ‘Working photographers could learn a lot watching Garry shoot; his style was truly unique. He had an amazing athletic ability when he held a camera in his hand. Honed by shooting hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even a million exposures, his technique was amazing because he was always moving. He was shooting and clicking all the time. Moving and clicking, moving and clicking. H
- also had some idiosyncrasies. He would walk the sidewalks, often caressing his face with his camera. He would sometimes flop his Leica from his right hand to the left.
- ‘No matter what Garry was doing with the camera, his eyes were always looking for the next shot. His head would turn side to side. He was like a predator looking for his next meal. And when he saw his target, his problem to solve so to speak, he would instantly meter the light by experience (I never saw him use a light meter), look down at his camera settings, make any needed adjustments; then he would literally walk up to the subject and snap the camera up to his eye and instantly freeze long enough to press the shutter. Then he would keep walking past the subject, his head already moving from side to side looking for the next subject, all the while lowering his camera. A 1/1000th later he was gone. After the shot and if someone acknowledged him with a grin or question, he would tip the camera to the subject as his way of saying thanks. Sometimes he nodded his head at the inquisitive subject. I dare say that many of his subjects never knew they had just been photographed, much less photographed from two to three feet away. This was an element that enhanced many of his photos. His technique allowed him to get those natural expressions and actions from his subjects, especially New Yorkers where you rarely people in the eye when you are close to them. ‘
- ‘Gary also saw some of my street work shot with a Nikon and a 20mm. He didn’t like what the ultra wide lenses did to straight lines and was not shy in saying so even though several shots made with that combination drew his praise.’
- ‘Two things come to my mind about Garry Winogrand. Garry taught at UT for about five years. I am not sure he particularly liked teaching, because I always sensed a bit of frustration in him. Not necessarily from the teaching job, but because I felt he wanted to be outside doing his type of photography. He derived his greatest pleasure from the physical act of taking pictures, creating pictures – if I understood him correctly, this is something he mentioned often in class – and yet he could not do it as much as he wanted.’
Posted 2 years ago
