Re: [Leica] Winogrand/blind shooting

[Bruce Feldman <feldman@tuj.ac.jp>]

Cary,

I can give you a source for the Winogrand view; I agree it is an
interesting position.  I found it in an article by Mason Resnick, who you
might know as the guy who has the "Black and White World" website (worth
checking out), a confirmed Leica M user himself and former student of
Winogrand's.  His article was in an old Shutterbug; perhaps you could dig
it out of their website.  In the article, Resnick, if I can recall,
describes a street session with Winogrand and the class members.  Somebody
shoots from the hip or chest and Winogrand severely berates him for it.
Needless to say, nobody did it again.  There's some other Winogrand
folklore in the article that's equally interesting.  

Regards,

Bruce Feldman


On Mon, 15 Dec 1997, Cary Conover wrote:

> Hey people...
> 
> I'm fascinated by what Bruce Feldman wrote in response (regarding Winogrand) 
> to Adi about Adi's shooting from chest/hip level. Interesting that Garry 
> Winogrand had that attitude, as I've seen his pictures and may have guessed he 
> was into that "blind shooting" thing maybe a little bit. But then I always 
> dismissed that thought because of something I read about him. Consider this 
> excerpt from DoubleTake magazine, I'm sure many of you know what I am about 
> to mention. Thomas Roma writes:
> 
> "Garry was really something to see--moving, without any break in the 
> conversation, to photograph, say, a woman emerging from a taxi--then turning to 
> take a picture of a couple leaving the restaurant we were standing in front of as if 
> he had planned it in advance. And always, after he took a picture, he gave the 
> same kind of curious look at his Leica that made it seem as if he was as surprised 
> as the people he had just photographed by what he had done. It seemed to 
> disarm them as they shrugged or just kept on about their busines."
> 
> Bruce Feldman writes: "[Garry Winogrand] was adamant about ALWAYS 
> looking through the viewfinder, otherwise it's not really your shot and you'll 
> never grow as a photographer by training your eye."
> 
> So here's the deal. I can understand somebody being adamant about always 
> looking through the frame and stuff. But I disagree with somebody saying it's 
> not "your" shot. It sure is, it's just different. I've always thought the camera 
> takes on a life of its own when it's used "blindly." At 99 percent of
my 
> assignments, I'm looking through the viewfinder while working. But there's 
> always that last frame of the roll where I'm walking back to the office and pass 
> a unique person on the sidewalk, or that unique situation during an assignment 
> where I would never shoot it any way BUT from my hip or chest. I think many of 
> you know what I'm getting at. So Garry has his way, but I find that most of my 
> favorite pictures are ones that have been taken "blindly." And I would defend 
> that practice any day. More than anything, every one of those "blind" pictures is 
> a mini-experiment.
> 
> Cary Conover
> Monroe, Michigan
>