Do you want to know the story behind the picture?
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- Using Michael Schmidt's book "Waffenruhe" (1987) as an example, Alec Soth discusses the ways in which stories and biographical information can alter our reading of photobooks. Masahisa Fukase's book "Ravens" (1986) is also briefly discussed.
Yes please do a deepdive into Ravens. :)
Yes, I am waiting for that as well :-)
The apparent unscripted nature of your delivery makes the video very powerful, and instructive. To be able to show, on camera, the uncertain, vulnerable, human side of learning, not just talk about it, does an awful lot to level a playing field that is often viewed as a vertical hierarchy. Wonderful. Thanks.
So kind, thank you Richard
When I discovered Beyond maps and atlases, I didn't know that Bertien Van Manen lost her husband before she went to Ireland and created this mesmerizing book. It also changed my reading but I'm sure that she was right not to mention this. As we say in France, it would have been like a hair in the soup.
Thanks a lot for this new video. I learn a lot with you.
Thank you. Now I need to look more closely at that book!
Michael Schimdt is hard to understand if you don't know the story behind his photographs.
Watching this video was a breath of fresh air.
Thank you Alec.
I hope you feel good Alec. These days I'm suffering of anxiety, thinking a lot, what I realize is I think too much, we must be more easy, just go and live a little without pre occupation with is not smart cause we do not have the future yet, just live, just start to feel good with small things, small details. You are one of the most important photographers of all time, period. Just live easy, forget about the next step, do it easy if it comes good if not, you're great!
Can you write this message to me every morning please? Thank you
I was waiting 2 months for this new video. Thank you, you are helping me a lot with my growth as a photographer. Greetings from Perú.
Thanks Victor
Totally agree Alec, isn't it interesting that the inclusion of context/text/info is as formative as the exclusion of it. I purchased Songbook after watching your Magnum course and some of the things you talked about in the videos added to the book experience for me. Great video, thanks.
Nice to hear, thanks
Alec, thanks again for making these expository videos.
Hearing you talk about books / photographic works, in addition to your interpretation of them, causes our reasoning to formulate ideas and thoughts conditioned by each one's experience. Your analysis of the book "Waffenruhe" made me feel and interpret the photographs as traps. That is, each photograph is a trap that Michael Schmidt puts us in and puts us in because he is in that trap. Young people appear as if they were questions to which Michael does not see an answer. That's why horizons are close and hard or a little further away and blurred. We are faced with a solid presence of obstacles or with an indefinite and obscure future.
About anxiety... me and the Earth is full, poor of those who are in a very deep and unresolved state. This is a "feeling" that is in all of us and that reveals itself in a more present way to some than others. I am from the country of Fado and Pessoa. Sometimes the escape is at work, sometimes there is no escape - we are trapped. Your documentary Nowhere to desapear and Broken Manual already contains and reveals disquiet. It's not from today.
You have the possibility to do photographic work to do what you think is worthwhile. Maybe it's not so booby-trapped, I hope. Hug.
Thank you Luis
The first book of yours I bought, I didn’t have a clue who you were or really what photo books were. Years ago I did something similar in Tokyo. I discovered a little shop selling t-shirts on a corner in Shinjuku. It was a tiny room with stairs going down to an equally tiny space exhibiting photos by Daido Moriyama, a name that took almost a decade to really enter my proper awareness. The photos were funny, the t-shirts were all prints of his photos-I bought one for my wife-and I bought the 2 books of his on sale. I didnt have a clue who he was or why the books were like they were. I was interested in books on art and artists that were full of pictures and information. I even bought a book on the studio props and artefacts of Morandi without knowing of Joel Meyerowitz…not that there was much psychological weight, just the simplicity of the objects and the rich colour and light. Anyway I think I watched this video quite a while ago but it didnt really affect me as much as it has today. I agree with you about the importance of his daughter to the reading of the book. I think he hoped that his daughter and her generation might not have to carry the same guilt and despair that he felt. You never know with art. Thanks for sharing and informing.
Thank you very much, Alec Soth!! And have y’all wonderful days! 🧢 We all have different experiences and it's always particularly beautiful when things come full circle!
Yes!
Oof, this was a good one. Really appreciate your videos, there's so much here that I vibe with and recognize.
Thank you
(Please try to look past my family TV account name, or at least enjoy this request's congruence with the video's message)
I hear you about the depression. I'm trying to drag myself out of my latest gloomy hole too. So many of us pay that price after a period of intense inspiration it seems. I'm learning that these things come in cycles. The mind deserves a break sometimes.
Glad to have found this channel. And to have found photography.
I was showed Alec Soth through a professor of mine for an artist discussion assignment and I’ve been addicted to your videos ever since. Good stuff Alec!
So nice to hear
Please start making these videos again 🙏
Thanks so much for making these videos.
I regularly attend photography workshops at my local art school and Michael Schmidt was mentioned often in response to my work. I looked at some images of his online, but didn't really connect. Until I took the time and watched an hour long artist talk. It completely changed the work for me. I feel like I learned in 10mins of him speaking more, than I did by photographing myself during the last 10 years. More information can be so immensely helpful and view changing. But I had to be ready. Without the 10 years of photography the 10 mins of him talking would have been meaningless. Your videos have a similar effect, so please continue (at your own pace) and good luck with the wading through the oily brain tar between projects!
It is very interesting to hear your initial response to this book and the way you look at it now from an American perspective. I purchased and first looked at this book a couple of years ago. As a woman who was born in East Berlin in 1983, I had a very immediate response to it. To me, it really speaks to a German psyche of violence, disorientation and overlap of histories.
I did not know that the girl in the picture was Schmidt's daughter, so thank you so much for sharing that.
I love your UA-cam videos, thank you for always being so generous in sharing your thoughts and knowledge.
It's interesting how ones narrative and the projection of another as mentioned can be in itself a unified story within the differentiating and branching dialogues...There is an intimacy with the shared work that is left unspoken, unrestrained and freed from collapsing on or being erected from words.
Great analysis Alec! It somewhat opens up the debate also on adding text to photos in a photobook (and the amount of if) vs. no text. In this example, the text / story can change the whole perception.
Helpful analysis and approach - and has driven me towards changing an approach to a project
I am developing. Thanks
Thanks again Alec for another video! I also was in Berlin in August and saw your exhibition. I found that with the knowledge from your pound of pictures video, I still left the show with a fresh perspective of the work (wholly god large format printed blew my mind too)!!
🙏
Well as with all your vids, I watched the whole thing, : a measure of my interest. I did not know this book, but on the basis of the images and your exposition, it seems clear that it is about divisions between people (and peoples), geographic and otherwise. Interesting that a "ceasefire" is a indeterminate period between war and peace, conflict and resolution, division and unification. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights.
I'm enjoying your traversing the relationship between language(text) and photography. This relationship I feel exists in many endeavours where the debate is always between exposition and connections.
Thanks Alec. I particularly enjoyed when you talked about your first encounter with "Waffenruhe" being somewhat random, on that discounted shelf. For some reason I forever associate books with the time and place in which I discovered them. My first encounter with your work was fully by accident as well-the green cover of Songbook was poking out of a shelf at my local art book store, and I'm so glad I took a look inside.
Oh that makes me so happy. Thank you for sharing
I am so sad I wasn‘t able to see you and the exhibition in Berlin. I hope it was a good experience for you. And thank you for another great video. For me, the infos f.e. you provided in the videos about your work had a huge impact how I see your work and it definitely helped me a lot to understand them. It doesn‘t mean, I can‘t have my own interpretation and view on the work, but I can appreciate the work so much more. I just received my copy of Sleeping by the Mississippi and can‘t wait to explore it!
I had such a great time in Berlin. I miss it already
Dear Alec, thank you so much for this video. I actually saw you on the street when you came to Berlin, right in front of C/O Gallery. I had to hold myself in order to not scream out your name and say hello. Next time you come by I’d love to buy a coffee! Also, I couldn’t help but think, once the book discusses subterraneously this relationship between father and daughter, how much of it questions the generational transition imposed by the wall itself. The wall being this limbo, or cease fire, between generational trauma. Once again, thank you so much as always.
Thanks Alec for making these videoes, a joy to watch and really concentrate on the work for a short hour.
I completely agree with the need of feeling aligned with the artists that we admire and I wanted to say it was very generous and powerful of you to share how you also feel in between projects as it gives us the same sense of satisfaction and connection that you felt when you learned about Michael Schmidt depression after each project.
The whole video is extremely inspiring, but particularly the visual connection with Wing of Desire which I absolutely agree and the later physcological analysis where you mentioned the period where one is waiting for life to change, I was particularly taken by that as it reminded me that compelling work can still be done when we are in this limbo.
This video which I ended up not watching when was shared 6 months ago, was exactly what I needed today.
Thank you!
Come for the in-depth discussion of how context creates meaning in a photobook. Stay for the mention of the Nick Cave scene in Wings of Desire. "I'm not gonna sing a song about a girl ... "
Thanks Alec! Your way of going deeper and deeper into these books is so fascinanting and opens up a total different world. Now I feel that I need to go through all my photographic books and see what happens. Thank you so much
Thanks for watching!
your videos effortlessly capture my attention for the entire video
I love the mix of text and photos. I'm publishing my first book now.
Yes! Definitely a deep dive into Ravens!!
I wonder if the text of the story was formatted that way partially to “reward” a viewer who took the time to read it; kind of like the way some video games and films have so-called nest eggs. Making the effort unlocks new meaning...
Would love to hear the Ravens deep dive. Thank you Alec.
This is probably my favourite video so far, as in that it peels so many layers of the onion of understanding photographic work and the context in which it has been made. This way of looking at photography allows me to ask myself the same questions to unearth the true reasons why I want to make a project. Thank you for this!
Thanks Mark
THANK YOU! That was a journey, and very real.
A really honest and enlightening view of how the perception of art evolves with additional feedback or information. Truly phenomenal. (and costly, cause I'm waiting for my delivery of 'Ravens' now)
your hat choices are on point.
Marvelous story of seeing a book from different vantage points over a period of years, and the changes in appreciation additional information and experiences can make. Also very enlightening analysis of the subtlety of DYPDICHS, and what makes them work in a photobook. An important takeaway: To enhance your appreciation of any photobook, read the text published in it. (In this instance, Alec didn't read the German text for years, until he got hold of a copy with an English translation. It completely revised and elevated his experience of the book itself.
Love the hat! Been trying to get that specific piece of Pera merch for a while.
Alec, your videos are simply mind-blowing. Thank you for making them.
Enjoy your time going out. I agree. Speaking to others about a book has the same effect for me too. It’s why books last, I guess.
Thanks as usual, Alec. I know I have an admittedly strong tendency to "peruse" and set aside books without doing the digging necessary to achieve fuller appreciation. Of course, as your video demonstrates, it's rewarding to investigate and work to get at the meat. The next bit of magic isn't always the thing you haven't yet stumbled upon. Thanks again! I'd love to hear about your experience with Ravens...
Ravens is my favorite book ever. I would like to listen your pov on that book.
Oh boy a new Soth video, September is now better for it!
Whenever you feel down, just hop on the plane and get to Berlin. You look very organic here, always think of you as a Berliner. Take care .
Berlin is full of yellow flowers and signs
Thanks so much Diana
Thanks for sharing, it’s so inspiring!
This was one of my favourite ones you have done. Please do Ravens soon. Thank you for these videos
Thank you, Alec!
i personally like to hear the stories behind the photos,i think it's only adding to the viewer experience, one of my favorite videos on this channel was the one where you taakt about the phothos in a pound of pictures
Thanks Alon
Man I need to hear those Michael Schmidt stories.
Thank you again for another strong video. I somehow missed this one when you released it. I really appreciate your mention of Wenders’ work as your original point of context for this book. I will have to seek it out. I’ve loved all of Wenders’ work with Robby Müller for so long now and I really enjoy hearing photographers talk about them. WINGS OF DESIRE is special on so many planes. Henri Alekan, the DP who photographed it (as well as Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête), was in his eighties as was his longtime gaffer when they made the film and it’s imbued with vitality, that Wendersian quiet intensity. Anyway, love it. Did you ever see ALICE IN THE CITIES? A Polaroid camera, then a prototype loaned to the film, factors a major element in the film as its protagonist punctuates travels with it.
Great video, I learned a lot. Please do the video about Ravens. It’s my favorite book. Thank you.
Please keep making these videos, they are phenomenal!
Watching this as I’m actually going through some of your prints here at magnum nyc(print sale freelancer) Lovely video! I definitely share the same feelings about text/context in photo books, always enhances the experience for me. Excited to see some upcoming work :)
Thanks Drew. And thanks for helping Magnum
wow, another really interesting one.
another great video! thank you Alec! Yes to ravens deep dive!
Ravens deepdive like another said would be GREAT
Thanks for the upload , love what you teach us
I do. Deep dive into Ravens would be much appreciated.
I'd love to see a deep dive into Ravens
Very interesting - thank you Alex. This prompted thoughts of North and South Korea for me.
There is an ugliness and severity that occurs when there is an artificial severing of a population as occurred with the Berlin Wall and also with Korea. I wonder how many generations it takes to heal those wounds. Heart breaking.
thank you very much
Thank you so much
“The way we encounter the work, the little bits of information, for better or for worse, change things.”
Karasu is generally translated as crow. There is no specific Japanese word to differentiate crows from ravens. The pictures are ALL of crows. I’m not sure why, but this has always struck me as mistake. Whether or not it was laziness or misunderstanding it seems important.
I think it's deliberate. Ravens are naturally prone to solitude compared to crows. And perhaps Fukase is that one lost raven hard to spot among the many crows.
Love the Joe Pera hat!
I'm curious to learn the connection between the pictures and the depressive state. It seems there is a link with certain styles of photography and depression. Sure, one can link any art, or science for that matter to depression, but there often is a similarity in the type of photography which manifests as a result of inner negativity. I am drawn to these images and I always gravitate to that kind of work myself. I'd love to know what psychologists would make of that attraction. It's possibly a kind of comfort blanket; indulging in melancholy is possibly a form of sedative. Is it a way to feel comfortable with the work one does? It's most probably an expressive way of exhibiting one's own inner feelings. The much acclaimed photographer Don McCullin photographed bleak winter landscapes as a way of "coming down' from the horrors of war. In one piece of film of him printing, he makes reference to needing to print "darker and darker." It's somewhat comforting to know that others feel the 'Black Dog' (Churchill's name for depression). Creativity and depression are commonly found together. The more one sees these photographic connections, the more the clouds lift, so thank you Alec, a hugely valuable video, on many levels.
Well said Neil, thank you
This is Beautiful .Thank yoıu
Deep dive into ravens please!!!
Joe Pera ❤
If there is an English version of the whole book „Zigaretten“ (Cigarettes) by Einar Schleef you should definitely look into it!
I want it!
How about a “Berlin in the time of the wall” deep dive?
DEEP DIVE INTO RAVENS DEEP DIVE INTO RAVENS
Make new work, the world needs to see it!
Hi Alec, will we see you in Spain with an exhibition?
It's a sad example of a design failure, in my opinion. I believe you that the text is integral, and yet the typography is pure sabotage. You and I are both curious readers, but both have the same reaction to that wall of type: "uh ... I'm going back to bed." I find it's hard enough to get photo book people to read anything beyond the front cover. If I were to do a book with integral text, I'd consider it a major design challenge to convey its importance, and to make as inviting as possible.
I know the book is called Ravens but aren't they actually crows? haha
That messed me up
🤪
i can feel you