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Thanks for all your videos. This one, particularly, speaks to exactly where I find myself. I stopped selling my work a few yrs ago & then completely stopped photography all together for the better part of 5 yrs. I’m almost 69 now. In some ways, I feel like I did when I first picked up a little Canon point & shoot 20 yrs ago. I took pictures of what I liked then. When others started suggesting that I sell my work, & do weddings, etc, I kinda lost that part of myself & replaced it with “doing it for THEM” (whoever THEY were). Now - I’m back to shooting what I see & how I see it - regardless of the light or location, etc. I’m ditching my Oly micro 4/3s for a newer iPhone. And I just ordered a canon power shot gx7 mark2. In some ways, I guess you could say I’m regressing. But I think I’m actually progressing by rediscovering what I loved about photography in the first place. And I’m having a blast. Your video serves to confirm that I’m on the right track. Thank you!
Well said Carol. You are speaking to me directly. I feel the same way. I felt like I was doing what other people wanted me or were encouraging me to do. Shoot weddings, shoot portraits, shoot something that makes you money NOW. I get that but I was not doing something that "spoke to me." I finally decided to do a project, a self assignment if you will, in a popular local spot which has been photographed by hundreds if not thousands of photographers. Eleven months later and 29 days of photography from two to six hours each time, has resulted in something special. I am about to present it to the locals. It would be great if it is commercially successful. Even if it falls flat on its face, I am still thrilled for having done it. I have a few more projects lined up for the next adventure. BTW, I am turning 64 in a week or so and only rediscovering my passion for photography now!
brilliant video. One thing I could add to help to find what work you want to produce, and that’s to print your images. If you print them, you can hold them and inspect them far better than viewing them on a screen. Don’t print loads, just those that speak to you and you’ll soon get a feel for what you like.
I'm a travel photographer and what I look for mostly is light, composition, timing, emotions to capture my style and it sells alot and consistently. Yes, his photos are boring, but, who does he sell to - he has a definite style, but not my taste - that normal in any artistic endeavor. I am sure that you do the same - your style is yours, I like that. Thanks for the conversation - meaningful. J
I find myself having rewatch your videos a couple of times because you always end up saying something that gets me to start reflecting on my own photography, processes or ideas. Before I realize it 4-5 minutes have gone by under contemplation and I've haven't heard a thing you've been saying. But that's why I keep coming back, you always give me something new to think about. Thank you.
haha, my wife also says she zones out when I talk :D I'm pleased you're enjoying the content and thanks for watching. what part of this got you thinking the most?
@@ThePhotographicEye The mundane things. Those are what has long fascinated me. Or rather I should say the mundane things in exotic places, things that are to the locals ordinary but entirely different from my own environment. When you have featured photos of Stephen Shore previously I have not much cared for them but the policeman anecdote got me to start thinking about why. Because while my first reaction was different from yours, it was not indifference and as you pointed out that means something. I wish I could take photos like him, they are precisely what I wish I could see in my own locals. I don't like them because I fail to understand how to take pictures of the mundane and make them interesting to someone else. Are they interesting to me because they document an era of the past that I never experienced? Would he take the same photos today and would you or I care if he did? I will sit down and look through his work and ponder these things more closely.
@@Frag-ile In my experience, when we take these photos of the street and mundane things today they feel too familiar, boring and every day. But add on 20+years and looking back, they are instantly an exotic place, and place that is no longer every day. Another reflection I had when looking at the selection of photos in this video is that there was often a strong geometric balance and flow in them, so they are not devoid of artistic principles even if the subject is typical of a 'snapshot'.
Love that tip about a notebook. I started doing that a while ago and now when i"m bored i take it out and write whatever is on my mind. Now i'm at a point where i write short poems for some photos i take and that led to me trying out filming and this week i'll cut and edit my first short film 😂
I don't have a social media account at all. I literally have no idea what is trending on social media presently. I love photography and have been taking images for over 50 years, since my teenage days. What inspires me to continue is my interest in the interaction between people and nature. I will spontaneously take photos of any scene that moves or excites me, irregardless of what my family and friend think.
Perhaps "TL" does not see UA-cam as social media? Or means that it is only TikTok and Instagram and Twitter that fall under the category "mundane" (social) media?
@@angelamaloney4871 I don't consider/use UA-cam as a social media platform. Increasingly, I've been forced to use YT simply because more and more hobbyist magazines have folded or disappeared and I have little option but to use YT as a news media platform. Even public libraries no longer stock or update their photography books and magazines. I love to browse and view books by individual photographers as I draw inspiration from their work. In my definition, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Twitter as social media platforms in that they are specially tailored for active interaction and viewers are encouraged to comment, post and interact.
I struggled for a long time with Shore & Eggleston (for example) in trying to get to grips with this way of seeing and get out of the rut of convention. In time though and thanks to these and other photographers and discussions like this, I finally realised what I wanted to photograph. Now I really, really enjoy my photography even though it isn't much appreciated on social media, but that doesn't matter. I like it.
What Shore and Eggleston did was capturing "interesting scenes" through daily lives, which on a glance may look simply boring: an empty plate on table... a ceiling? What the hell is that? I'm sure such photos can be turned into interesting photo book. But probably won't won photographic competition, though.
No one liked Shores or Eggleston’s work at first but they knew what and why they were doing, even though it might not make sense to everyone. You’ve got to do your thing and not worry what others think, especially on social media. I’ve decided not to post anything on there and make books no one will probably ever see, maybe snag a “exhibition” at a coffee shop or the like. If someone else likes it, that’s cool but not as important as you liking it.
I was delighted when I discovered Stephen Shore because it was what I had been doing, albeit decades later. Photographing and documenting the everyday things, just for me, was and still is my main drive. Over time, I gained a better understanding of aesthetics and composition, but the intrinsic drive to document is the same.
Wow. This video takes me back years to one of my first prompts to become a visual artist. In Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer the main character, Binx Bolling, says “The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be on to something. Not to be on to something is to be in despair.” Every creative I know from time to time finds themselves sunk in their own everydayness, in a kind of unnamed despair. The process you set out here seems to me to be nothing short of a roadmap to become aware of the possibility of this search, a way to wrestle with the kind of dread that paralyzes, holds you back, keeps you down. This struck a spark for me. I expect I will be coming back to this bit in the future. Kudos, and thanks.
Insightful video Alex. Great advice. My Sculpture is inspired by 1970’s album covers, my writing is inspired by paintings and my photography is inspired Zen. Makes perfect sense to me! 😊
I really needed to hear this today, especially about how social media influences us even when we think it's not. Your videos are always inspiring. Thank you for saying what you do.
About a week or two ago, I made a new, fresh instagram in addition to my main one, and it exists solely for me to curate work which I enjoy the style of, and want to imitate. I only look at, like, and or save the work I want to focus on, regardless of what instagram tries to slide into my feed. The result is that the page is fairly sterile and focused, though IG hasn't stopped trying to get me out of my shell. It's starting to help for referencing as I go out, shoot, and try to imitate and merge all these styles together into something I'm truly happy with.
As someone who started photography recently, this video really helps me in decluttering the outside social media impacts on my passion of exploration and photography. Great video Sir 🫡❤️
Photographs of such "mundane" subjects can only be appreciated and be seen by artists and photographers. The intrinsics in such photographs where the ordinary dominates the frame can sometimes pull up certain emotions and memories in the exceptionally insightful beholder who isn't a photographer. But then, in today's world of social media dominance and monopoly, such beholder of these and other form of photography are pitifully scarce in this ever fast paced world.
At the beginning of this year after several years on various social media platform I decide it just wasn't for me. The main reason for making this decision is that I feel that social media is mainly designed for people that create post content on a daily/regular basis and that just not me. For the most part I might get out to shoot for a few hours on the weekend and than post a one or two of the images that I'm most proud of, but if I didn't get any images that I was proud of I simply wouldn't post just to post something, So after time what I did post became more and more less less relevant to algorithm which meant fewer and fewer people saw in their feed which made me ask the question why are doing this. I'd like end by saying I'm just an average photographer that's happy if even a few people see their work and never really followed any trends, not counting post pics of my cute cats:), to get views.
Another great inspiring video. I totally agree with documenting the everyday- while to most it seems pointless- over time the images become historical. Time is key.
Hi Alex, Thank you for this video and, in fact, all your videos. I am 72 years old and I have been photographing all my life. After having watched your latest video I realised that I have lost my own photographic voice in trying to follow the main stream on instagram and other social media, but instagram in particular. I have evolved to be a look alike. I realise now that I have to devorce myself from instagram. It will not be easy. Instagram has grown to be an addiction in some way. Thank you once again for opening my eyes.
Thanks for your videos. I especially enjoy those in which you talk about other photographers. Your enthusiasm about (some of) them is really inspiring. I hadn't heard about Stephen Shore before, but he's now certainly on my list of "having to take a closer look at"-photographers.
Lovely meditation on the craft. So difficult on social media where the work you do that gets the most attention isn't the work that you feel defines your vision. I guess unplugging not only goes for what you see, but the feedback that may push you in the wrong direction.
Yes, I would agree on the feedback part. I know their hearts are in the right place, but people saying 'nice capture' really leaves me feeling, dunno, odd somehow.
I don't do social media beyond YT, and I mostly watch on my TV where theres no capacity for commenting. It takes a lot for me to even bother to pick up my phone to pop off a response. Social media has ruined the world for me and I've never been happier than I have since giving up on living the dream and just observing the plainness of the world, outside of a screen, and just being in the moment. I don't even care if anyone likes, or even sees my photos. The process is what grounds me and allows me to be ok with being plain old me. I'll never be a photographer, I'm just an obsever who carries a camera.
This reminds me of the old addage... 'be true to yourself'. Don't copy others and don't worry about whether other people like your work. I photograph because I enjoy doing it and seeing the results of my efforts and only compete against myself. I find this to be one of your more interesting and thought provoking videos of recent times...
Great video! It really made me think of Nostalgia looking at the images you provided. Ordinary items in the present may seem boring but given enough time nothing helps you reconnect to the past better than an early TV dinner in a dated kitchen.
Alex, you have inspirational videos that have resonated with me intensely. I have stopped IG and it feels really good. I took what you have said to heart about, does it really matter who sees my images? Doing this has helped me FOCUS even more, even though I have a degree in photography and have been doing it over 45 years now. I always get inspiration from other photographers, but I do not try to replicate their images to suit me. I shoot digital, but my passion now is shooting film. I develop, scan, & edit (slightly) all of my own images. Kudos to you Alex, CHEERS!
I was introduced to Stephen Shore’s work in the early 1980s as I began studying photography more seriously. I loved his attention to the ordinary. It fit with my sensibilities at the time. Using color and making wonderfully bland images of the boring American Suburban landscape was a marvelous statement in itself. Revolutionary in a way.
Stephen Shore doesn’t quite do it for me but I completely get the essence of what you are saying. I have found myself being sucked into social media and being distracted from my vision/thought process. So instead I have bought 2 more books of Michael Kenna’s so as to study more of his work which does resonate with me. I don’t want to copy him but it helps me to see my world differently.
Thanks Alex. I’m going to unplug from this FB group for a bit. I just realized watching this video it’s making me doubt myself, seeing all these beautiful photos. Wondering why can’t I produce something like that? Making me want to throw my camera in garbage and give up.
Thanks for the video. The three questions that are always shouting inside my head are: 1) what am I doing this for? (I don’t, and never have, sold - or considered selling my photos) 2) hasn’t this been done before - Isn’t this a cliche? (I follow several landscape photographers on UA-cam and whilst their work is generally excellent, it’s all sort of the same: wide angle lens with a big rock in the foreground and dramatic lighting) 3) my mind is full of a thousand ideas - so how do I focus on just a few and actually carry them out? (Sorry, a bit random!)
Since his approach is very different from modern world photography, would very interesting to know his path into the recognized art world. How he did it, how approached galleries etc etc...
We can't see those Stephen Shore images as they were seen when he did them because they are so much of their time. The colours etc have a hip/coolness to them because they are 40 years old. It is far harder to have a response to today's world and culture. What he was doing with colour snap shots was still a new use of a technology. We've kind of run out of new tech now.
Alex, I love your videos and thank you for posting them. On this occasion though I am going to be true to myself and tell it how I see it and not follow the convention. I have worked in paid photography since 1976 and have had front covers of every British national newspaper so with respect I do understand photography and know what makes a good pictures. I am not going to mimic the intelligentsia and gush about these image by Stephen Shore which sadly to me are just boring and emperors new clothes - good on him for 'doing his own thing" but I absolutely know that if I had provided these images to a picture editor they would have gone straight into the bin. We are all different but thats my honest opinion. Regards
Thanks Alex. Stephen’s work is new to me but I love it. Those empty plates, the furniture. Can I imagine putting that on my feed? Not really. Which is why I too am thinking of coming off Instagram. I see nothing new or profound on there. I love museums and art for inspiration. I want to change and your channel is the medicine. 😊😊😊
Hi Alex, what a great Topic this one was. Great quotes from Stephen Shore, He's an inspiration. I'm not on Instagram i would rather go outside and take photos. Thanks for sharing this video to us viewers.
Stephen Shore works, I think, are really interesting. Someone who only make images for the sake of pictorial content only probably won't get them. On a glance, those looks like random snapshots, taken without much thought (perhaps?). Not sure if those will make nice big prints... but definitely photo book material, though.
Another great video Alex. I've stopped posting single images to Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. I am working on longer form content, for example I will create a photo story that I put together in a blog post or make small prints for a pop exhibit.
It depends. Sometimes I just sort of want there to be proof that I was alive and saw things. Sometimes I want to share those things with other people who missed them because they are worth seeing. Sometimes, the light hits something just right and I think "I want a picture of that, now how do I get the picture to really show what I am seeing?"(I was caught before bed last night by the reflections in a glass of ice and used up 20 frames trying to catch all the things I was seeing in it as the light hit different angles. Who wants to see those photos? They are nonsense, but I wanted to take them enough to forgo just going up to bed and get out the camera.) Sometimes I think I am documenting what is here, now. Having spent some time just today looking at a photo album with notes put together by my great grandparents on their trips with another couple, I am finding that I wish some of my photos will be as interesting as theirs. (And as good! Clearly someone had some compositional skills.) And that someone will bother to look at them and find them interesting. Of course some of them appear to be little postcards from across the country, but you can tell which ones those are and they "fit" in the album.) The frozen bubbles aren't just fun to photograph, they are addictive and I get something from them. They give me a sense of awe and wonder and even a little bit of surprise every time I see the crystals form. It's like God's way of saying, "yes, I designed the world even to these smallest details and yes, it still works." I think sometimes other people must look at them and think "oh another frozen bubble, why doesn't she just make a fingerprint collection, it would be as interesting." and that's okay. I don't do those for them, I do them for me.
Photography and its associated commentary by its nature is one of the most subjective mediums open for critique and praise alike and yet as I browse the comments I see not one single educated response that offers anything other than fawning adoration for the essay that is delivered. Even though I find the photographer's work to be simplistic to the point of comical, Stephen Shore and William Eggleston bucked convention on a daily basis and yet none of their fortitude is reflected by any viewer. It doesn't take my forty-five years of shooting professionally across every genre to deduce that you simply cannot agree with everything. I hope this note encourages others to engage in debate and elevate an art form that is languishing in the past achievements of so many brave souls. While I respect the author and the exponents of these works, these images are snake-oil presented as photographic enlightenment. Context is everything. The original works are most assuredly valuable because they are indictments of their time, no more and no less.
It is interesting how he mentions that he wanted his photos to be "not burdened by visual conventions". As his photo's, to me, come across really well composed but not conventionally composed which gives them a very different feeling to see. ie. there is composition there, but its not the conventional composition we typically see. I like Shore's photos (I have a book of his) but they always struck me as "composed, but not using any composition I know". Sure, some have arrows pointing to things and other 'normal' compositional elements but each frame of his, taken as a whole, I mean.
So much of this is true to itself, i.e. as Shore says, "unburdened." Yet you, me and everyone else works more to the conventional. Urban abstracts, portraiture, landscapes, etc. How do we break out?
@@ThePhotographicEye I don't have one of his books but I've seen his work elsewhere and I think he strips the arnissh from the craft and snaps it back to reality. although Manuel Alvarez Bravo's work is more, for a lack of a better word "formal", he shows the world the reality of Mexico, or at least what it was.
I too generally dismiss social media as well (apart from occasionally posting to Instagram), as I don't really care what's "trending" or what people "like." I produce images that feel right to me. We're obviously all influenced by everything we take in with any of our senses (as well as whatever thoughts enter our conscious and unconscious mind). There is simply too much clutter if you allow yourself to get sucked into the black hole of overconnectivity. The effect is worsened if you actually care what other people think about your work. Spending time with art-oriented books and going to galleries and museums to actually study other work pays much bigger dividends than trying to drink from the multimedia firehose. So why am I watching this YT? Because channels like this serve to remind us to throw off the yoke of convention and pursue our personal vision. As you mention, only by continuously refining the way we see (and interpret) the world can we achieve greatness (not defined by irrelevant measures such as likes or sales). One tiny quibble (one I'm sure you'd've caught/edited had your VO had been scripted), is where you mention "art" and "the art world" as alternative places to look for inspiration. Quite true, except that photography is of course (well, can be) an art form, so how about "other art forms"... (I know--picky, but from its inception, some have questioned the validity of photography as an art form and I know you agree that it most certainly is).
Alex, compartmentalizing or stereotyping a photog's work might be inevitable over time, yet without a philosophy of vision or raison d'etre, the creating of signature work may not be possible let alone expressing an identity that speaks through the photog's images. Herein lies the dilemma between individual vision and photographic maxims which may be engendered and even made crucial by SM. Photogs and artists have always fought this battle, and at least in modern times--perhaps since the invention of the printing press--SM in a broad sense has been with us in some form or another. It's influence--SM's influence--insidiously affects our perceptions of our world and effects a conformity, yet to rail against it becomes itself a cliche over time. So where is authentic-ism? And how do we achieve it? The answer lies in the philosophy of vision, and that philosophy we must accept as mercurial in nature, influenced by experience, love, wonder, and the willingness--conscious, unconscious, even both--to understand and relate on some level to our subjects, events, and so forth as well as to ourselves.
Great video, but do we always have to try to be original? I don't care about trends, and I enjoy shooting things that I love, even if they've already been done. Like, my family, wild flowers, my city.... there is always someone that does it better, but I can't worry about that. I love what I love, and no one's life is like mine. That said, I hate Instagram etc because I get jealous of the places they go that I cannot. Finding the beauty in front of me is my challenge and love.
For me, a good image is one that provides a reason for the image to exist. Many of the images here provide a reason for them not to exist. Maybe I just don't understand.
But they did elicit a response from you. That's my take away from this - at least make images that generate some sort of emotion in the viewer. Doesn't always have to be a postive one. This is the joy of photographers who have a style - it gives you pause for thought rather than just swiping to the next photo
I think that all the "famous" photographers are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of others that shoot the same photos and never made the news. Photography is subjective unless is marketed to sell by media, critics, galleries etc. Ciao belli
Many may have shot the same photo but I think the famous photographers have something in common is that they had a focus and presented their images in a body of work which had a goal. For example an image of something banal may feel banal but when it' a book of a 100 images of banality then the common thread becomes impactful.
@@hanumanguy Totally agree with you and I think someone said "1 bad photo is an bad photo 10 bad photos are a study 100 bad photos are a style" But my question is: presented their images to whom? Someone influential enough to decide they are worth it the mass and marketed? Cheers
@@hanumanguy Sad and true. That's what I was trying to say. Someone gets elected to be the new phenomenon. A lot of people around him make money he makes money but the contribution to art is doubtful
Alex, lately you try to explain the meaning of the meaningless. You think Mr. Shore's images are amazing. That puts the meaning of amazing in a different category, they call it so ugly it is amazingly beautiful. You made amazing portraits before and I did not even know that was you, but with your latest work, I don't know what adjective I should use. (tell me) I'm not on any SM, hiding my amazingly ugly masterpieces, because of my respect for the "old masters and legends".
Your unique perspective would be a valuable addition in putting the final touches on my latest course - The Authentic Vision Framework.
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“I wanted pictures that seem like seeing” Fabulous line!
Thanks for all your videos. This one, particularly, speaks to exactly where I find myself. I stopped selling my work a few yrs ago & then completely stopped photography all together for the better part of 5 yrs. I’m almost 69 now. In some ways, I feel like I did when I first picked up a little Canon point & shoot 20 yrs ago. I took pictures of what I liked then. When others started suggesting that I sell my work, & do weddings, etc, I kinda lost that part of myself & replaced it with “doing it for THEM” (whoever THEY were). Now - I’m back to shooting what I see & how I see it - regardless of the light or location, etc. I’m ditching my Oly micro 4/3s for a newer iPhone. And I just ordered a canon power shot gx7 mark2. In some ways, I guess you could say I’m regressing. But I think I’m actually progressing by rediscovering what I loved about photography in the first place. And I’m having a blast. Your video serves to confirm that I’m on the right track. Thank you!
Well said Carol. You are speaking to me directly. I feel the same way. I felt like I was doing what other people wanted me or were encouraging me to do. Shoot weddings, shoot portraits, shoot something that makes you money NOW. I get that but I was not doing something that "spoke to me." I finally decided to do a project, a self assignment if you will, in a popular local spot which has been photographed by hundreds if not thousands of photographers. Eleven months later and 29 days of photography from two to six hours each time, has resulted in something special. I am about to present it to the locals. It would be great if it is commercially successful. Even if it falls flat on its face, I am still thrilled for having done it. I have a few more projects lined up for the next adventure. BTW, I am turning 64 in a week or so and only rediscovering my passion for photography now!
Thank you for watching
brilliant video. One thing I could add to help to find what work you want to produce, and that’s to print your images. If you print them, you can hold them and inspect them far better than viewing them on a screen. Don’t print loads, just those that speak to you and you’ll soon get a feel for what you like.
I'm a travel photographer and what I look for mostly is light, composition, timing, emotions to capture my style and it sells alot and consistently. Yes, his photos are boring, but, who does he sell to - he has a definite style, but not my taste - that normal in any artistic endeavor. I am sure that you do the same - your style is yours, I like that. Thanks for the conversation - meaningful. J
His photos take me back when I was a kid. His work is precious. Thank you for sharing this.
I’ve been taking photos since 1971-I know eons-but enjoy your fresh take on the genre-thank you Alex.❤
Thank you for watching
I find myself having rewatch your videos a couple of times because you always end up saying something that gets me to start reflecting on my own photography, processes or ideas. Before I realize it 4-5 minutes have gone by under contemplation and I've haven't heard a thing you've been saying. But that's why I keep coming back, you always give me something new to think about. Thank you.
haha, my wife also says she zones out when I talk :D
I'm pleased you're enjoying the content and thanks for watching.
what part of this got you thinking the most?
@@ThePhotographicEye The mundane things. Those are what has long fascinated me. Or rather I should say the mundane things in exotic places, things that are to the locals ordinary but entirely different from my own environment.
When you have featured photos of Stephen Shore previously I have not much cared for them but the policeman anecdote got me to start thinking about why. Because while my first reaction was different from yours, it was not indifference and as you pointed out that means something. I wish I could take photos like him, they are precisely what I wish I could see in my own locals. I don't like them because I fail to understand how to take pictures of the mundane and make them interesting to someone else. Are they interesting to me because they document an era of the past that I never experienced? Would he take the same photos today and would you or I care if he did?
I will sit down and look through his work and ponder these things more closely.
@@Frag-ile In my experience, when we take these photos of the street and mundane things today they feel too familiar, boring and every day. But add on 20+years and looking back, they are instantly an exotic place, and place that is no longer every day. Another reflection I had when looking at the selection of photos in this video is that there was often a strong geometric balance and flow in them, so they are not devoid of artistic principles even if the subject is typical of a 'snapshot'.
Love that tip about a notebook. I started doing that a while ago and now when i"m bored i take it out and write whatever is on my mind. Now i'm at a point where i write short poems for some photos i take and that led to me trying out filming and this week i'll cut and edit my first short film 😂
I don't have a social media account at all. I literally have no idea what is trending on social media presently. I love photography and have been taking images for over 50 years, since my teenage days. What inspires me to continue is my interest in the interaction between people and nature. I will spontaneously take photos of any scene that moves or excites me, irregardless of what my family and friend think.
You posted from your social media account to tell us that you don’t have a social media account?
Perhaps "TL" does not see UA-cam as social media? Or means that it is only TikTok and Instagram and Twitter that fall under the category "mundane" (social) media?
@@angelamaloney4871 I don't consider/use UA-cam as a social media platform. Increasingly, I've been forced to use YT simply because more and more hobbyist magazines have folded or disappeared and I have little option but to use YT as a news media platform. Even public libraries no longer stock or update their photography books and magazines. I love to browse and view books by individual photographers as I draw inspiration from their work. In my definition, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Twitter as social media platforms in that they are specially tailored for active interaction and viewers are encouraged to comment, post and interact.
I struggled for a long time with Shore & Eggleston (for example) in trying to get to grips with this way of seeing and get out of the rut of convention. In time though and thanks to these and other photographers and discussions like this, I finally realised what I wanted to photograph. Now I really, really enjoy my photography even though it isn't much appreciated on social media, but that doesn't matter. I like it.
What Shore and Eggleston did was capturing "interesting scenes" through daily lives, which on a glance may look simply boring: an empty plate on table... a ceiling? What the hell is that? I'm sure such photos can be turned into interesting photo book. But probably won't won photographic competition, though.
No one liked Shores or Eggleston’s work at first but they knew what and why they were doing, even though it might not make sense to everyone. You’ve got to do your thing and not worry what others think, especially on social media. I’ve decided not to post anything on there and make books no one will probably ever see, maybe snag a “exhibition” at a coffee shop or the like. If someone else likes it, that’s cool but not as important as you liking it.
I was delighted when I discovered Stephen Shore because it was what I had been doing, albeit decades later. Photographing and documenting the everyday things, just for me, was and still is my main drive. Over time, I gained a better understanding of aesthetics and composition, but the intrinsic drive to document is the same.
Wow. This video takes me back years to one of my first prompts to become a visual artist. In Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer the main character, Binx Bolling, says “The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be on to something. Not to be on to something is to be in despair.” Every creative I know from time to time finds themselves sunk in their own everydayness, in a kind of unnamed despair. The process you set out here seems to me to be nothing short of a roadmap to become aware of the possibility of this search, a way to wrestle with the kind of dread that paralyzes, holds you back, keeps you down. This struck a spark for me. I expect I will be coming back to this bit in the future. Kudos, and thanks.
Insightful video Alex. Great advice. My Sculpture is inspired by 1970’s album covers, my writing is inspired by paintings and my photography is inspired Zen. Makes perfect sense to me! 😊
Hi, Alex.
You are doing a heck of a job, my friend.
Every video is a joy for me.
Antoine.
Aww, cheers man! That's awesome to hear - thank you so much. Where are you watching from?
@@ThePhotographicEye The Netherlands, Alex.
I really needed to hear this today, especially about how social media influences us even when we think it's not. Your videos are always inspiring. Thank you for saying what you do.
Thanks for watching
Stephen Shore's photos are great! They impressed me, anyway!
About a week or two ago, I made a new, fresh instagram in addition to my main one, and it exists solely for me to curate work which I enjoy the style of, and want to imitate. I only look at, like, and or save the work I want to focus on, regardless of what instagram tries to slide into my feed. The result is that the page is fairly sterile and focused, though IG hasn't stopped trying to get me out of my shell. It's starting to help for referencing as I go out, shoot, and try to imitate and merge all these styles together into something I'm truly happy with.
What stands out for me is many of Stephen’s photos shown are taken whilst the light is hard, out during the day taking great photos, good stuff 👍🏼
As someone who started photography recently, this video really helps me in decluttering the outside social media impacts on my passion of exploration and photography. Great video Sir 🫡❤️
Thank you for watching
I quit social media a few weeks ago and lost all interest in taking photos. I am curently in the process of building the urge back up again.
Photographs of such "mundane" subjects can only be appreciated and be seen by artists and photographers. The intrinsics in such photographs where the ordinary dominates the frame can sometimes pull up certain emotions and memories in the exceptionally insightful beholder who isn't a photographer. But then, in today's world of social media dominance and monopoly, such beholder of these and other form of photography are pitifully scarce in this ever fast paced world.
At the beginning of this year after several years on various social media platform I decide it just wasn't for me. The main reason for making this decision is that I feel that social media is mainly designed for people that create post content on a daily/regular basis and that just not me. For the most part I might get out to shoot for a few hours on the weekend and than post a one or two of the images that I'm most proud of, but if I didn't get any images that I was proud of I simply wouldn't post just to post something, So after time what I did post became more and more less less relevant to algorithm which meant fewer and fewer people saw in their feed which made me ask the question why are doing this. I'd like end by saying I'm just an average photographer that's happy if even a few people see their work and never really followed any trends, not counting post pics of my cute cats:), to get views.
Another great inspiring video. I totally agree with documenting the everyday- while to most it seems pointless- over time the images become historical. Time is key.
Hi Alex,
Thank you for this video and, in fact, all your videos. I am 72 years old and I have been photographing all my life. After having watched your latest video I realised that I have lost my own photographic voice in trying to follow the main stream on instagram and other social media, but instagram in particular. I have evolved to be a look alike. I realise now that I have to devorce myself from instagram. It will not be easy. Instagram has grown to be an addiction in some way. Thank you once again for opening my eyes.
Thank you for watching
Thanks for your videos. I especially enjoy those in which you talk about other photographers. Your enthusiasm about (some of) them is really inspiring. I hadn't heard about Stephen Shore before, but he's now certainly on my list of "having to take a closer look at"-photographers.
Lovely meditation on the craft.
So difficult on social media where the work you do that gets the most attention isn't the work that you feel defines your vision. I guess unplugging not only goes for what you see, but the feedback that may push you in the wrong direction.
Yes, I would agree on the feedback part. I know their hearts are in the right place, but people saying 'nice capture' really leaves me feeling, dunno, odd somehow.
Another thought provoking & inspirational video. Thank you!!! Excellent content!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I don't do social media beyond YT, and I mostly watch on my TV where theres no capacity for commenting. It takes a lot for me to even bother to pick up my phone to pop off a response.
Social media has ruined the world for me and I've never been happier than I have since giving up on living the dream and just observing the plainness of the world, outside of a screen, and just being in the moment. I don't even care if anyone likes, or even sees my photos. The process is what grounds me and allows me to be ok with being plain old me. I'll never be a photographer, I'm just an obsever who carries a camera.
This reminds me of the old addage... 'be true to yourself'.
Don't copy others and don't worry about whether other people like your work.
I photograph because I enjoy doing it and seeing the results of my efforts and only compete against myself.
I find this to be one of your more interesting and thought provoking videos of recent times...
Great video! It really made me think of Nostalgia looking at the images you provided. Ordinary items in the present may seem boring but given enough time nothing helps you reconnect to the past better than an early TV dinner in a dated kitchen.
Alex, you have inspirational videos that have resonated with me intensely. I have stopped IG and it feels really good. I took what you have said to heart about, does it really matter who sees my images? Doing this has helped me FOCUS even more, even though I have a degree in photography and have been doing it over 45 years now. I always get inspiration from other photographers, but I do not try to replicate their images to suit me. I shoot digital, but my passion now is shooting film. I develop, scan, & edit (slightly) all of my own images. Kudos to you Alex, CHEERS!
That’s awesome. Thank you for watching
Reminds me about some of the William Eggleston approach looking for ordinary things.
Thanks for showing Stephen Store's work... love it. Reminds me of James Popsys' work. Never got into Instagram trap, never want to. Cheers, Alex
I was introduced to Stephen Shore’s work in the early 1980s as I began studying photography more seriously. I loved his attention to the ordinary. It fit with my sensibilities at the time. Using color and making wonderfully bland images of the boring American Suburban landscape was a marvelous statement in itself. Revolutionary in a way.
Yes, revolutionary, but also trendsetting - these days of course pics of food aren't 'weird' at all! :D
Thank you for the video. It reiterates so many things for me.
Thank you. All the best. 👍📷😎
thanks for sharing another inspiring video!
Stephen Shore doesn’t quite do it for me but I completely get the essence of what you are saying. I have found myself being sucked into social media and being distracted from my vision/thought process. So instead I have bought 2 more books of Michael Kenna’s so as to study more of his work which does resonate with me. I don’t want to copy him but it helps me to see my world differently.
Thank you
Alex, this video really hit the mark with me. Thank you.
Thanks - what particularly was helpful?
informative video incl Stephen Shore great 70s imagery, useful insights on focus etc.
Thanks John, always good to have you here
Thanks Alex. I’m going to unplug from this FB group for a bit.
I just realized watching this video it’s making me doubt myself, seeing all these beautiful photos. Wondering why can’t I produce something like that? Making me want to throw my camera in garbage and give up.
Thanks for the video.
The three questions that are always shouting inside my head are:
1) what am I doing this for? (I don’t, and never have, sold - or considered selling my photos)
2) hasn’t this been done before - Isn’t this a cliche? (I follow several landscape photographers on UA-cam and whilst their work is generally excellent, it’s all sort of the same: wide angle lens with a big rock in the foreground and dramatic lighting)
3) my mind is full of a thousand ideas - so how do I focus on just a few and actually carry them out?
(Sorry, a bit random!)
This episode is like hand-holding and helping me cross the street.. Thank you 🌷
Love the advice in this video👏👏
Thanks for watching
Since his approach is very different from modern world photography, would very interesting to know his path into the recognized art world. How he did it, how approached galleries etc etc...
Thanks!
Much more interesting and stimulation of self-reflection… than a “new gear video” 👍
This was amazing.
Thank you
You are very inspiring. Love the way you think and how you explain things. Are you familiar with David Plowden?
I really like your video thanks so much for you sharing
Thanks for watching
We can't see those Stephen Shore images as they were seen when he did them because they are so much of their time. The colours etc have a hip/coolness to them because they are 40 years old. It is far harder to have a response to today's world and culture. What he was doing with colour snap shots was still a new use of a technology. We've kind of run out of new tech now.
Alex, I love your videos and thank you for posting them. On this occasion though I am going to be true to myself and tell it how I see it and not follow the convention. I have worked in paid photography since 1976 and have had front covers of every British national newspaper so with respect I do understand photography and know what makes a good pictures. I am not going to mimic the intelligentsia and gush about these image by Stephen Shore which sadly to me are just boring and emperors new clothes - good on him for 'doing his own thing" but I absolutely know that if I had provided these images to a picture editor they would have gone straight into the bin. We are all different but thats my honest opinion. Regards
Thank you for you comments.
Thanks Alex. Stephen’s work is new to me but I love it. Those empty plates, the furniture. Can I imagine putting that on my feed? Not really. Which is why I too am thinking of coming off Instagram. I see nothing new or profound on there. I love museums and art for inspiration. I want to change and your channel is the medicine. 😊😊😊
Wow, thank you for watching
Hi Alex, what a great Topic this one was. Great quotes from Stephen Shore, He's an inspiration. I'm not on Instagram i would rather go outside and take photos. Thanks for sharing this video to us viewers.
Thank you for watching
I love this video thank you
Thank you for watching - is this the first time you've visited the channel?
@@ThePhotographicEye 4th maybe. Subbed a week ago
Stephen Shore works, I think, are really interesting. Someone who only make images for the sake of pictorial content only probably won't get them. On a glance, those looks like random snapshots, taken without much thought (perhaps?). Not sure if those will make nice big prints... but definitely photo book material, though.
Another great video Alex. I've stopped posting single images to Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. I am working on longer form content, for example I will create a photo story that I put together in a blog post or make small prints for a pop exhibit.
Great to hear that, hope your project goes well
It depends. Sometimes I just sort of want there to be proof that I was alive and saw things. Sometimes I want to share those things with other people who missed them because they are worth seeing. Sometimes, the light hits something just right and I think "I want a picture of that, now how do I get the picture to really show what I am seeing?"(I was caught before bed last night by the reflections in a glass of ice and used up 20 frames trying to catch all the things I was seeing in it as the light hit different angles. Who wants to see those photos? They are nonsense, but I wanted to take them enough to forgo just going up to bed and get out the camera.)
Sometimes I think I am documenting what is here, now. Having spent some time just today looking at a photo album with notes put together by my great grandparents on their trips with another couple, I am finding that I wish some of my photos will be as interesting as theirs. (And as good! Clearly someone had some compositional skills.) And that someone will bother to look at them and find them interesting. Of course some of them appear to be little postcards from across the country, but you can tell which ones those are and they "fit" in the album.)
The frozen bubbles aren't just fun to photograph, they are addictive and I get something from them. They give me a sense of awe and wonder and even a little bit of surprise every time I see the crystals form. It's like God's way of saying, "yes, I designed the world even to these smallest details and yes, it still works." I think sometimes other people must look at them and think "oh another frozen bubble, why doesn't she just make a fingerprint collection, it would be as interesting." and that's okay. I don't do those for them, I do them for me.
Interesting concepts and I like a lot of Shore’s shots, though some leave me wondering why he bothered.
Great video Alex
Cheers Scott. I'm still being very bad about replying to your email!
@@ThePhotographicEye don't worry. I am also useless at emails haha. Maybe we should buy some pgieons ?
Photography and its associated commentary by its nature is one of the most subjective mediums open for critique and praise alike and yet as I browse the comments I see not one single educated response that offers anything other than fawning adoration for the essay that is delivered. Even though I find the photographer's work to be simplistic to the point of comical, Stephen Shore and William Eggleston bucked convention on a daily basis and yet none of their fortitude is reflected by any viewer. It doesn't take my forty-five years of shooting professionally across every genre to deduce that you simply cannot agree with everything. I hope this note encourages others to engage in debate and elevate an art form that is languishing in the past achievements of so many brave souls. While I respect the author and the exponents of these works, these images are snake-oil presented as photographic enlightenment. Context is everything. The original works are most assuredly valuable because they are indictments of their time, no more and no less.
It is interesting how he mentions that he wanted his photos to be "not burdened by visual conventions". As his photo's, to me, come across really well composed but not conventionally composed which gives them a very different feeling to see. ie. there is composition there, but its not the conventional composition we typically see. I like Shore's photos (I have a book of his) but they always struck me as "composed, but not using any composition I know". Sure, some have arrows pointing to things and other 'normal' compositional elements but each frame of his, taken as a whole, I mean.
So much of this is true to itself, i.e. as Shore says, "unburdened." Yet you, me and everyone else works more to the conventional. Urban abstracts, portraiture, landscapes, etc. How do we break out?
The man is just a never ending font of wisdom. Do you have a favourite book of his?
@@ThePhotographicEye I don't have one of his books but I've seen his work elsewhere and I think he strips the arnissh from the craft and snaps it back to reality. although Manuel Alvarez Bravo's work is more, for a lack of a better word "formal", he shows the world the reality of Mexico, or at least what it was.
I too generally dismiss social media as well (apart from occasionally posting to Instagram), as I don't really care what's "trending" or what people "like." I produce images that feel right to me. We're obviously all influenced by everything we take in with any of our senses (as well as whatever thoughts enter our conscious and unconscious mind). There is simply too much clutter if you allow yourself to get sucked into the black hole of overconnectivity. The effect is worsened if you actually care what other people think about your work. Spending time with art-oriented books and going to galleries and museums to actually study other work pays much bigger dividends than trying to drink from the multimedia firehose. So why am I watching this YT? Because channels like this serve to remind us to throw off the yoke of convention and pursue our personal vision. As you mention, only by continuously refining the way we see (and interpret) the world can we achieve greatness (not defined by irrelevant measures such as likes or sales).
One tiny quibble (one I'm sure you'd've caught/edited had your VO had been scripted), is where you mention "art" and "the art world" as alternative places to look for inspiration. Quite true, except that photography is of course (well, can be) an art form, so how about "other art forms"... (I know--picky, but from its inception, some have questioned the validity of photography as an art form and I know you agree that it most certainly is).
🙏👋🙏
Alex, compartmentalizing or stereotyping a photog's work might be inevitable over time, yet without a philosophy of vision or raison d'etre, the creating of signature work may not be possible let alone expressing an identity that speaks through the photog's images. Herein lies the dilemma between individual vision and photographic maxims which may be engendered and even made crucial by SM. Photogs and artists have always fought this battle, and at least in modern times--perhaps since the invention of the printing press--SM in a broad sense has been with us in some form or another. It's influence--SM's influence--insidiously affects our perceptions of our world and effects a conformity, yet to rail against it becomes itself a cliche over time. So where is authentic-ism? And how do we achieve it? The answer lies in the philosophy of vision, and that philosophy we must accept as mercurial in nature, influenced by experience, love, wonder, and the willingness--conscious, unconscious, even both--to understand and relate on some level to our subjects, events, and so forth as well as to ourselves.
Here's a question for you. How similar does a photograph have to be before it falls into the group of being plagerized?
Great video, but do we always have to try to be original? I don't care about trends, and I enjoy shooting things that I love, even if they've already been done. Like, my family, wild flowers, my city.... there is always someone that does it better, but I can't worry about that. I love what I love, and no one's life is like mine. That said, I hate Instagram etc because I get jealous of the places they go that I cannot. Finding the beauty in front of me is my challenge and love.
For me, a good image is one that provides a reason for the image to exist.
Many of the images here provide a reason for them not to exist.
Maybe I just don't understand.
But they did elicit a response from you. That's my take away from this - at least make images that generate some sort of emotion in the viewer. Doesn't always have to be a postive one.
This is the joy of photographers who have a style - it gives you pause for thought rather than just swiping to the next photo
I just looked at some of Stephen's other work on his website, and found some very good aerial photography.
It's unfortunate we are allowed to push "the like button" on all of your content just once for video.. Thank you
Thank you
I think that all the "famous" photographers are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of others that shoot the same photos and never made the news. Photography is subjective unless is marketed to sell by media, critics, galleries etc. Ciao belli
Many may have shot the same photo but I think the famous photographers have something in common is that they had a focus and presented their images in a body of work which had a goal. For example an image of something banal may feel banal but when it' a book of a 100 images of banality then the common thread becomes impactful.
@@hanumanguy Totally agree with you and I think someone said "1 bad photo is an bad photo 10 bad photos are a study 100 bad photos are a style"
But my question is: presented their images to whom? Someone influential enough to decide they are worth it the mass and marketed?
Cheers
@@DemaMoto It's a good question, once an artist is well known they can take liberties that you or I can't take like putting a banana on a wall!
@@hanumanguy Sad and true. That's what I was trying to say. Someone gets elected to be the new phenomenon. A lot of people around him make money he makes money but the contribution to art is doubtful
Alex, lately you try to explain the meaning of the meaningless. You think Mr. Shore's images are amazing. That puts the meaning of amazing in a different category, they call it so ugly it is amazingly beautiful. You made amazing portraits before and I did not even know that was you, but with your latest work, I don't know what adjective I should use. (tell me) I'm not on any SM, hiding my amazingly ugly masterpieces, because of my respect for the "old masters and legends".
Obivous? 🤔
obvious spelling mistake is obvious :D
The only thing Social media did was to help people with no talent lower the bar for everyone else ~