User Profile Fields Own View
Sylvia Plachy
Summary:
Sylvia Plachy describes in this video her life and her photography using examples from 'Waiting', an exhibition in Berlin.
Born in 1943 in Budapest, the daughter of a Hungarian aristocrat and a Czech Jewish mother, fleeing at 17 years of age with her family from the Hungarian Revolution to New York, Sylvia’s life reflects the upheavals of the twentieth century. And her work reflects her life. The lost homeland and the feeling of being lost in the world are tangible in her pictures. Pictures that are poetic and melancholy, witty and bizarre, sometimes disillusioning, always moving. Sylvia Plachy has an eye for the little but meaningful things at the edges of our perception: People, animals, places, and things. They are all subjects for her camera.
And she uses cameras of all kinds: Toy cameras, Leicas, panorama cameras, in black and white or in colour. Plachy unites diverse techniques into an organic and characteristic whole. Black and white suits her style better than colour, which she says, is good for entertaining but can detract from the real meaning of an image.
"My father”, she reflects, “often walked ahead alone, deep in thought, his state of mind one could only guess at. I, on the other hand, have always liked to linger and watch unseen, to take my pictures without confrontation, to look at backs and imagine what's inside."
Plachy’s photographs can look at first sight like amateur snapshots, a little blurred, skewed horizons. But they are perfect in their imperfection. They work on you at a deeper level. Her images linger hauntingly in your consciousness. It’s worthwhile trying to find out why.
You can see more Sylvia Plachy images on her website. Readers of New York’s Village Voice will have been seeing her pictures there for the last thirty years.
She has published several books of photographs that are worth looking at. Self Portrait with Cows Going Home (2005), is a personal photographic journey through Plachy's childhood in Eastern Europe. Unguided Tour won the Infinity Award for best publication in 1991. Of Signs & Relics (2000) with a foreword by Wim Wenders, Richard Avedon says, "Not since Robert Frank's The Americans have I experienced a body of work of such range and power. She makes me laugh and she breaks my heart. She's moral. She is everything a photographer should be.”
Ahmet Ertug
Summary:
Ahmet Ertuğ is an architecture photographer and publisher based in Istanbul. He is deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of Europe and Asia.
As editor in chief of Ertuğ & Kocabiyik he has published 25 photographic and art books in limited editions. These publications are supported by traveling and stationary exhibitions of ultra large photographs. Their thematic spectrum spans from the advent of European and Eurasian cultures to historical libraries and the domes of some of the most important buildings in Europe as Ahmet Ertuğ's latest project. Architecture is their primary theme, but the works also include landscape references as well as defining artefacts and sculptures. Ahmet Ertuğ's Hagia Sophia photographs for example can be viewed in the upper northern gallery of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul as a permanent exhibition.
A distinctive feature of this photographers' work and personality is his complete commitment to his subject's aura. He has the will to control the prints, reproductions and distribution of his work to the last detail to convey the specific aura of a historically important building or artefact to the spectator of his works.
In addition to maintaining a tight rein on his art, he chooses enduring subjects - very likely none of them will wither away in the next centuries. His work will maintain their importance as a visual legacy as their subjects will continue to be available to coming generations.
FotoTV.News 14: Rencontres d'Arles 2011
Arles 2009
FotoTV.News 6 Special about Les Rencontres d'Arles
Summary:
In this news we report about the Rencontres d'Arles 2011 in France.
We pickted out three interessting aspects of the festival which might give you a good overview about what is happening there.
There is the Mexican Suitcase with old pictures from the spanish civil war, the inside out project where you can make nice pictures of your own and an interview with Mat Jacob about the photographers network tendance floue.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=346566809
Elliott Erwitt and Marc Riboud
Summary:
Eavesdrop here on two of the twentieth century's top photojournalists sitting on a sofa and chilling out. Elliott Erwitt, three times president of the illustrious photo-agency Magnum, and Marc Riboud, whose startling and captivating images put him in a class with Cartier-Bresson. Like Bresson, both men were born in France. Unlike Bresson, however, both are inveterate globetrotters. Asked about their attitudes to travelling, Riboud says, "I don't travel for the sake of travelling, I like surprises." And Erwitt, too, thinks that travelling is not necessary, but has its merits. It cuts you off from routine so that you can get 'fresh meat'. And it's fun!
Both professional veterans went to places that most people did not, or could not go to. In the 1950s and 1960s Erwitt photographed in the communist block countries of Eastern Europe. He was sent there on assignments, which he enjoyed. "Assignments take you to places you can't afford to go", he says, with a twinkle in his eye. Riboud works quite differently. He just goes off to somewhere that interests him, then comes back and tries to sell his photographs through agencies. Many of his trips were to Asia, including North Vietnam during the war there. He likes travelling alone: "In groups, people talk a lot. I don't think you can travel and speak at the same time!" And he likes exploring on foot ("Walking with your feet, you discover much more.").
The interview is richly illustrated with some of the best and most well known images of these two experienced and skilful photographers. And it is seasoned with their refreshing, good-humoured and insightful comments. What is the most difficult thing to photograph? What did Picasso say about that? What do Africans say about foreign visitors? How do you know when you've made a good photo?
More of Elliott Erwitt's work can be seen on his website, which bears the typically subtle and understated subtitle, 'for life-like snaps'.
The FotoTV interview with Marc Riboud alone is well worth watching too. His motto is, "Talk less and look more."
Marc Riboud
Summary:
Marc Riboud is a living legend, a star Magnum photographer. A man who, in the Paris of 1951, met three of the founders of that illustrious photo-cooperative, Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa and David Seymour. In this video you meet a man who at 88 is unassuming, wise, and still passionate about photography.
He hasn't switched to digital photography. Riboud likens the handling of his camera to that of a concert pianist with his piano. The pianist knows where every key is without looking or even having to think about it. Practicing for five or six hours a day, the positions of the notes become instinctive. He can concentrate on the music. And so it is for Marc Riboud with his film camera. You can't, and shouldn't try to, teach an old dog new tricks.
Like Bresson, Riboud has an uncanny ability to capture striking images of fleeting moments. Moments that betray intimate thoughts and feelings that stunningly or funnily freeze an everyday instant that would otherwise pass unnoticed, moments that express in powerful compositions the realities of war and political change.
This interview with Marc Riboud is spiced with some of his most remarkable photos and his comments on them: The man with no safety line painting the Eifel Tower, the girl with a flower facing soldiers with bayonets outside the White House, and many more.
In 1957, Marc Riboud was one of the first European photographers to go to China during the years of the Cultural Revolution and meet Chairman Mao. He reported on the Vietnam War from the North and the South. Later he travelled widely, though concentrating much on Asia.
The list of people he has photographed runs from Abbé Pierre to Lech Wallensa, from Max Ernst to Mitterand, from the Beatles to Simone de Beavoir.
"Rather than a profession, photography has always been a passion for me, a passion closer to an obsession." From the title page of Marc Riboud's website.
Christopher Makos
Summary:
Christopher Makos reminds one uncannily of Andy Warhol. His hair is untamed, almost over the eyes, sticking out at odd angles; he wears thick-rimmed black glasses, a shiny, pale green, patterned jacket and a black and white checked shirt. In this interview at the Flo Peters Gallery, made on a snowy day in Hamburg, Germany, he describes his meetings with and anecdotes about the great master of pop art. We get vivid impressions of the New York scene then and now.
Makos met Warhol at the opening of a retrospective exhibition of Warhol's work at the Whitney Gallery in New York. Makos thought Warhol was already dead! He was naturally quite surprised then, to meet him there. Warhol invited him o 'The Factory' but he never wentthere.
Making books of photographs is what interests Chris Makos. Amazon lists 30 titles authored or co-authored by him. Of these, 15 are about Andy Warhol. In this video we learn that Andy Warhol was surprised that there was no 'elevator' up to the Great Wall and that clothing fashions in China were changing because, "At that time they were just switching over to democracy and to a different kind of vibe".
"I always tell people that I'm not gonna do any more books, " says Makos, "especially on Andy Warhol. But somehow they always come to me and they say, 'Do you wanna do this book?' And so what happens is, er, I say, 'yes' because I love doing books, creating books, art-directing books, working on other peoples books."
Makos has made four books in collaboration with Paul Solberg with whom he works closely, sometimes even subsuming his individual identity under their joint pseudonym, the Hilton Brothers.
In this video Makos talks about two books in particular and numerous examples from them are shown. 'Andy Warhol in China: The Photographs of Christopher Makos' contains photographs of his 1982 trip to China with Andy Warhol. It was published in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics.
A second book just published in Italy is titled "Chris Makos Polaroids". It contains Polaroids from the 1970s. The Polaroid Company came to the factory and said "Oh you know we're gonna give everybody boxes and boxes of Polaroids just to see what artists can do with Polaroids." Makos immediately started taking pictures of everything: "People, places, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Man Ray, this girls tits, some guy's ass, Marilyn Monroe." All these photos were put away in boxes for three decades or so until a publisher asked Makos if he had more material from that period. He had, and they made the book.
Christopher Makoswas born 1948, in Lowell, Massachusetts.He grew up in California before moving to Paris to study architecture, where he later worked as an apprentice with the legendary Man Ray.
"Taking pictures", for Christopher Makos, "is sort of like the hunger for a really delicious meal."
FotoTV.News 9 - Lucie Awards
Summary:
In this installment of our news show Marc relates his recent whirlwind tour of New York. In addition to being on hand for the Photo Plus Expo he also attended the annual Lucie Awards.
These prestigious awards are often considered the equivalent to receiving an "Oscar" in the photo community. The Lucie Awards constitute a four day gala extravaganza culminating in a black-tie presentation at the Lincoln Center. Marc had the opportunity to discuss with founder Hussein Farmani the background activities of the Lucie Foundation throughout the year, its mentoring programs, scholarships and grants.
Marc manages to squeeze a few words in with one of this year's recipients Howard Bingham, before getting to some genuine footage from the presentation. This is an annual event and the Lucie Foundation is sponsoring festivals around the world so we encourage you to get involved.
You can download a podcast of this news show at:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=346566809
Nick Brandt 2
Summary:
In this second installment, animal photographer Nick Brandt talks to FotoTV about his epic work in Africa, focusing this time on his technique on photographing the animal’s personalities.
Brandt first visited Africa in 1995, when he was the director for Michael Jackson's Earth Song video. It was on that first trip that he fell in love with the place and the connection to the animals there.
Every animal is different and therefore each with a unique personality. Capturing that special moment for Brandt is a combination of luck and patience. There are only certain animals that let people get close to him, unlike the buffalo, which are highly guarded and territorial.
Brandt also talks about and shares several of his most famous animal photos, each depicting a unique setting and ethereally displaying the animal’s soul in full glory through his lens. His pictures are full of perfect choreography, scenes likened to those out of a Hollywood back lot studio, but Brandt’s photos are as real as real can get, and it is all about waiting for the right moment, sometimes even as long as 17 days to get the shot he is looking for.
For Brandt it is all about the right moment to capture the true personality of the animal he has before his lens.
Horst Faas - Part 6
Summary:
In the sixth installment of this special FotoTV series, historic journalist and photographer Horst Faas discusses his career and how he went from being a photojournalist to become a photo manager.
Faas explains that as the years went by his back and knees began to suffer from all of the heavy equipment and cases he had carried while on assignment, a prerequisite for a photojournalist, who had to work on their own with no assistants. He began to contemplate continuing on in the way he had been doing for so many years or to move to a different business altogether. Not wanting to change careers or branches, Faas took an offer from AP to manage the European, African, and Mideast offices, based out of London. He immediately thought of the knowledge he could share with news photographers and the wonderful traveling opportunities that came with the position, as Faas enjoyed that aspect of photography very much.
So up went his cameras on the hooks on the walls and he began a long stint as a photo manager which found him right in the middle of the evolution of press photography. Keyboards and simple computers with monitors were the new typewriter and Faas even contributed to developing the first electronic darkroom, which actually paved the way for scanning and digital photography.
Paul Peregrine
Summary:
In this revealing autobiographical video Paul Peregrine describes both how he found his passion for photography as well as the hard graft and dedication that precede success.
After following for a while the stereotypical wishes of his parents for their son to become a lawyer or a doctor he took a day-long personality test to find out where his real interests lay. To his surprise, what came out was forestry and photography. He chose to check out photography and enrolled in a course. Within days his life had changed. From that moment on it was ‘pedal to the metal’ down the photography road.
To prove his parents wrong Peregrine moved to New York and started at the bottom in a photo studio: cleaning the dark room, making coffee, and fetching pastries! But learning all the way. Two years later he moved back to Denver, CO and started out on his own. A friend offered him a little space to work. Living at first in his car and showering early in the studio he worked like a beaver, knocking on doors, making photographs. Eventually the energy flowed and success came.
Paul Peregrine is also an inventor for photographers. “Photography is solving problems”, he says. And this usually means getting the right light. His first product developed into the Chimera lighting soft-box. Later he started Lightware Inc., a company the among other things produces camera bags and cases and has recently started offering a system called FourSquare for using arrays of Nikon Speedlight flashes. A dramatic demonstration of the effectiveness of FourSquare can be seen in a YouTube video of a shoot at a motocross event.
Photography is all about line and light, maintains Peregrine. Describing his image of a Bugatti he waxes lyrical about the sensuality that one senses “by how little you see, not how much”.
Paul Peregrine lives and works in Denver, CO. As well as photography he loves the outdoor life, fishing, shooting, hunting and camping. The personality test he took as a young man got it pretty much spot on.