Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/22

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Subject: [Leica] Winogrand Student Speaks!
From: Bruce Feldman <feldman@tuj.ac.jp>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 09:32:12 +0900 (JST)

Yes this thread has been getting too long, but I just got a message from
Mason Resnick, former student of GW and now honcho of "Black and White
World" on the Web.  I pass along parts of it with his expressed
permission:

"Now, about Winogrand...

Yes, I wrote about a workshop I took with Garry in 1977, in Modern
Photography in 1989 (so you have a good memory!). The guy he scolded for
shooting without looking was me.

Garry always looked through the viewfinder, even if it was just for the
split second when he was pressing the shutter release. Although his
compositions appeared haphazard, he actually was controlling things in his
own way. That's hard to describe, but on the street, he would use body
language to get people to respond and move in one way or another. He was
adamant about always being aware of where you were placing the edges of the
frame. Shooting blind meant giving up control over the image.

Of course, since he put dozens (if not hundreds) of rolls through his
camera a week, Garry had a lot of practice making the whole process look
easy.

Hope this helps. And yes, you can post it.

Mason Resnick
Editor/Publisher

Black and White World
http://www.photogs.com/bwworld

"The more you know, the more you need to know."
- --Garry Winogrand"

Regards,
Bruce Feldman