Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/15

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] IMG: Murillo's
From: steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour)
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:16:40 -0800
References: <73301d6b1002141915w7aeb9762nf0895723d51bba67@mail.gmail.com> <36172e5a1002150138m64a72cd1x298590c6c1499084@mail.gmail.com> <73301d6b1002150154o27a89e24uaac79ce15305c6d3@mail.gmail.com> <D599509C-5B8D-493E-9CA0-8CB601244DBB@frozenlight.eu> <387743A2-2C41-4B63-83D0-B8693DF1254D@gmail.com> <F520D1FB-4F7B-48AD-9D12-0556CD15E005@mac.com> <73301d6b1002151316re4bcf38hce24c890038af9b8@mail.gmail.com> <EF72D166-535C-448C-BF90-84D296AA7F7C@gmail.com> <19b6d42d1002151936w32386e6fs89c2e0901372c51e@mail.gmail.com> <F1E0CBDF-8D90-4972-8AC6-61B051530615@gmail.com> <19b6d42d1002152019x29eede1fnc4ed488f5e52beab@mail.gmail.com>

On Feb 15, 2010, at 8:19 PM, Vince Passaro wrote:

> I offered an extreme case. If posthumously, with him having never touched
> the film or seen the negatives, Winogrand's vision and aesthetic were so
> palpably "in charge" of those prints, how can Tina not be the "author" of
> her collection even as she gets valuable assistance / advice / second
> opinions from her editor?

it's a question of choice...which Tina has...


Winogrand, more limited....


Steve


> On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 11:09 PM, Steve Barbour <steve.barbour at 
> gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Feb 15, 2010, at 7:36 PM, Vince Passaro wrote:
>> 
>>> Steve-
>>> Writers have editors, why shouldn't photographers? They're quite helpful.
>>> It's not as if the great writers weren't edited. Similarly painters don't
>>> get to tell the gallery owner which paintings to hang. They discuss, no
>>> doubt. In the end, in all these relationships, there is no confusion
>> about
>>> who is the artist; but part of great art in every form is the artist
>> working
>>> on intuitive and often utterly unconscious levels. And it is quite
>> possible
>>> to take a fine picture and not recognize or notice that it is a fine
>> picture
>>> until someone else, with qualitative skills, points it out.
>>> 
>>> The process is not so pure.  The Gary Winogrand show at MoMa in the 80s
>>> caused a ruckus because one whole room of it comprised photos he'd never
>>> even processed (he'd shoot the rolls, many many many of them, and toss
>> them
>>> into plastic garbage bags, where they were when he died.) So he didn't
>> pick;
>>> he didn't print; he didn't select from the prints. Were they great
>>> photographs? Absolutely. Was he the party responsible for them, and
>>> did they reflect his vision? Absolutely.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> thanks Vince and of course you are correct and I agree...
>> 
>> I too have benefited from the advice of others,  sometimes great advice.
>> 
>> And since I am an untrained amateur I can only learn here, any knowledge I
>> have, likely comes from here...
>> 
>> I come from fields far removed...and I sometimes extrapolate.
>> 
>> With regards to your very interesting  and understandable example above,
>> may I be allowed one simple response...
>> 
>> Tina is alive...
>> 
>> 
>> Steve
>>> 
>>> Some may disagree however. Some certainly did at the time.
>>> 
>>> Vince
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 10:17 PM, Steve Barbour <steve.barbour at 
>>> gmail.com
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Feb 15, 2010, at 1:16 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 2:42 PM, George Lottermoser <imagist3 at 
>>>>> mac.com
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> What is the "purpose" of the "edit?"
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> A book, eventually.
>>>> 
>>>> I assume it's your book and not Maggie's...
>>>> 
>>>> It troubles me that your book will have her selections, some of which
>> you
>>>> would not have selected.....
>>>> 
>>>> In spite of her great even amazing credentials, the photos are not hers,
>>>> the book is not hers...and certain selections are not yours...
>>>> 
>>>> That I find troubling for obvious reasons, and especially as I connect
>> with
>>>> your work and your selections...that you have made in the past. It may
>> not
>>>> be easy for you, but so what, the idea of turning that over to someone
>> else
>>>> is suspect.
>>>> Brahms had great trouble composing, but if he had turned that over to
>>>> someone else, we wouldn't have Brahms.
>>>> 
>>>> I also worry that she may make better editorial choices with her own
>> work,
>>>> than with some one elses...
>>>> 
>>>> But the usual enormous level of respect we all have for someone with
>> great
>>>> credentials is itself worrisome...they say jump and we say... how
>> high...?
>>>> 
>>>> and fwiw, in pure sciences, virtually all of the truly great discoveries
>>>> are made by people who don't easily go along with with they are
>> told...if
>>>> they listened to accepted dogma, they would be destined to oblivion.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Steve
>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Like any other work;
>>>>>> experience matters.
>>>>>> I have no doubt that Maggie Steber
>>>>>> has a very experienced eye for photo editing.
>>>>>> Yet, one may ask, editing for what purpose?
>>>>>> Market segment? Publications? Fine Art books? Other?
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> She was the first woman editor for Associated Press and Pulitzer Prize
>>>>> winning editor of the Miami Herald. Maggie has been awarded the Ernst
>>>> Haas
>>>>> grant, the Alicia Patterson Foundation grant and the Knight Foundation
>>>>> grant, as well as a World Press Photo first prize and Leica Medal of
>>>>> Excellence, and she was a two-time finalist for the Eugene Smith
>> Grant..
>>>> Her
>>>>> book on Haiti, published by Aperture, won Photo Book of the Year.  She
>>>> works
>>>>> for National Geographic, Fortune, Smithsonian, teaches at ICP, Maine,
>> and
>>>>> Santa Fe workshops, judges NPPA Photo of the Year, World Press Photo of
>>>> the
>>>>> Year and many more.  So I would say she edits for all purposes.
>>>>> 
>>>>> And she uses Leicas!!
>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Will her edit express what you want to express about the subject(s)?
>>>>>> about your self? about your work? other issues?
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> During the editing process, she kept telling me to let her know if
>> there
>>>>> were photos I particularly wanted to include.  I did.  Most she agreed
>>>> with,
>>>>> some we argued about, some she talked me out of, some I put in the B
>> edit
>>>>> with the idea that we would review them further in the next edit.  I
>>>> think
>>>>> she was very careful to include what I wanted to express.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I still think that I would include far too many photos because I know
>> the
>>>>> story behind the people.  I find it hard to judge my photos on their
>>>> merits
>>>>> and not on what I remember about the situation.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I need an editor.  I think it's wonderful that some people are
>> confident
>>>>> enough to judge their own work, but that's not me!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks -
>>>>> 
>>>>> Tina
>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Tina Manley, ASMP
>>>>> www.tinamanley.com
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



In reply to: Message from images at comporium.net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from images at comporium.net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from imagist3 at mac.com (George Lottermoser) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from images at comporium.net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from passaro.vince at gmail.com (Vince Passaro) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)
Message from passaro.vince at gmail.com (Vince Passaro) ([Leica] IMG: Murillo's)