Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Stephen, could you please elaborate a little on "classes/film/paper". And >guys like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Richard Avedon and W.Eugene >Smith - what Photography Schools did they ever go to? Can you name one >single really great photographer in the World who received a formal >theoretical education in photography? >Talent is something you either have, or you don=B4t have. You can=B4t = just learn it! Claes, Smith studied photography at Notre Dame, on a scholarship, after = working on the staff of a small-town newspaper in his teens (see = Smith's biographical essay in _W. Eugene Smith: His Photographs and = Notes_). Capa spent his early career doing darkroom work for other = photographers and working in photo agency offices before he was ever = allowed to go out on an assignment. Working as an apprentice in your = chosen field is not all that different from going to school. He = studied journalism, and I think (but I'm not sure) that he also = studied filmmaking. Going away to school was what got him out of = Hungary (see _Robert Capa_ by Richard Whelan). Cartier-Bresson studied art. Art theory, such as the study of form = and composition, would be equally valid for drawing, painting or = photography. He considers himself an artist who happens to use a = camera. I think he's doing more drawing these days than he is = photography. (Look at almost anything on Cartier-Bresson). I don't know where the idea comes from that the arts are all = touchy-feely and that you either are or are not born with the ability = to do them. Producing any form of _good_ art is hard work. If it = wasn't, everyone would do it and it would have no value. Yes, you = need talent, but you also need discipline _and_ training _and_ = experience. It's an utter waste to have raw talent and not have = enough sophistication and training to be able to use it. To be a good writer you need to learn spelling, composition and = grammar before you can write a novel that anyone would want to read. = Simply having a gift for storytelling won't do you any good if you = can't orgainize your thoughts and put them on paper in a form that = someone else can read and understand. Great works of art don't just = happen. There is bad work being done in every field by people who either have = talent but no training, or training but no talent. You don't = necessarily need formal training, but you need some form of training = even if it's teaching yourself through trial and error, or through = reading and by studying other people's work. Why be content to squat = in the dirt when there are giants whose shoulders we can stand on? If you are passionate about photography, why wouldn't you want to = learn about it, and if you did, how would that be bad? And who is = there who would not benefit from knowing more about their chosen = field, no matter how good they are? - - Paul