Photographers On Photography – Videos

 

It’s insightful to learn about and from the photographers who make the classic photographs.

Here’s a collection of videos on photographers that I’ve enjoyed most.

You’ll find them inspiring!

Where do I recommend you start? With the classics – in red.

 

Sam Abell | View 

Ansel Adams | View 1 View 2 | View 3 | View 4

Robert Adams | View

Diane Arbus| View

Richard Avedon | View

James Balog | View 1 View 2 | View 3

Richard Benson | View

Ruth Bernhard View

Yann Arthus-Bertrand | View

Phil Borges | View

Bill Brandt | View

Chris Burkett | View

Edward Burtinsky | View

John Paul Caponigro | View

Paul Caponigro | View

Harry Callahan | View

Keith Carter | View

Henri Cartier-Bresson  | View 1 | View 2  | View 3  | View 4  | View 5

Chuck Close| View

Anton Corbijn | View

Gregory Crewdson| View

Bruce Davidson | View

William Eggleston | View 1 View 2

Alfred Eisendstaedt | View

Walker Evans | View

Andreas Feininger | View

Robert Frank | View

Adam Fuss | View

Ralph Gibson | View

Laura Gilpin | View

Nan Goldin | View

Emmet Gowin | View

Lauren Greenfield | View

Lois Greenfield | View

Gregory Heisler | View 1 | View 2

David Hockney | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Kenro Izu | View

Chris James View

Bill Jay | View

Chris Jordan | View

Ed Kashi | View

Michael Kenna | View

Sean Kernan | View

Andre Kertesz | View

David LaChapelle | View 

Frans Lanting | View

Jacques-Henri Lartigue | View

Annie Leibovitz | View 1 | View 2

Jay Maisel | View 1 | View 2

Sally Mann | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Arthur Meyerson View 1 | View 2

Eric Meola | View

Duane Michals | View 1  View 2

Mary Ellen Mark | View

Steve McCurry | View

Joe McNally | View

Joel Meyerowitz | View

Richard Misrach |  View

Cristina Mittermeier |  View

Tina Modotti | View

Sarah Moon | View

Edward Muybridge | View

James Nachtwey | View

Arnold Newman | View

Helmut Newton | View

Elizabeth Opalenik | View

Gordon Parks| View

Martin Parr | View

Eliot Porter | View

Chris Rainier | View 1 | View 2

Eugene Richards | View

Sebastiao Salgado | View 1 View 2

John Sexton | View 1 | View 2

Cindy Sherman | View

Stephen Shore | View

Aaron Siskind | View

Eugene Smith | View

Rick Smolan | View

Fredrick Sommer | View

Edward Steichen | View

Alfred Stieglitz | View 

Paul Strand | View

Jock Sturges | View

Hiroshi Sugimoto | View

John Szarkowski | View

Joyce Tenneson | View 1 | View 2

Pete Turner | View

Jerry Uelsmann | View

Nick Veasey | View

Jeff Wall | View

Andy Warhol View

Weegee | View

Edward Weston | View

Kim Weston | View

Garry Winogrand | View

Dan Winters | View

Huntington Witherill | View 1 View 2

Art Wolfe | View

 

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Photographers On Photography – Conversations

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I have been fortunate to have had a number of wonderful conversations with many remarkable photographers. As a peer, I share a common experience and speak a common language that many people who speak with artists do not and this is reflected in the kinds of questions and answers that guide our way deeper into seeing.

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Photographers

Amy Arbus
Richard Barnes
Richard Benson
Barbara Bordnick
Gary Braasch
Christopher Burkett
Harry Callahan
John Paul Caponigro
Paul Caponigro
Keith Carter
Brad Cole
Tillman Crane
Robert Farber
Lee Friedlander
Adam Fuss
John Goodman
Emmet Gowin
R Mac Holbert
Ryszard Horowitz
Jim Hughes
Gordon Hutchings
Kenro Izu
Christopher James
Stephen Johnson
Michael Kenna
Sean Kernan
Julieanne Kost
Eric Meola
Arthur Meyerson
Richard Misrach
James Nachtwey
Elizabeth Opalenik
Olivia Parker
Moose Peterson
Chris Rainier
Edward Ranney
John Reuter
John Sexton
Craig Stevens
Jock Sturges
Joyce Tenneson
George Tice
Jerry Uelsmann
Cole Weston
Huntington Witherill

Video Conversations

Sean Duggan
Steve Johnson
Sean Kernan
Arthur Meyerson
John Sexton
Joyce Tenneson
Huntington Witherill

 

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Photographers On Photography – Q&A

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In Q&A
photographers share their answers to
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20 questions;
10 Core Questions
10 Optional Questions
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Answers are kept short and sweet.
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Core Questions

What’s the best thing about photography?
What’s the worst thing about photography?

What’s the thing that interests you most about photography?
What’s the thing that interests you most about your own photographs?
What’s the thing that interests you most about other people’s photographs?

Who were your early photographic influences?
Who are your photographic influences now?
Who were your early non-photographic influences?
Who are your non-photographic influences now?
What’s the most inspiring work of art you saw recently?

What’s the best thing about gear?
What’s the worst thing about gear?

How do you know when an image doesn’t work?
How do you know when an image is good?
How do you know when an image is great?

What’s the most useful photographic mantra?

Do you practice another art form? (If so, which?)
What benefits do you get from (this/these) other art form/s?

What was the most significant visual moment in your life?
Which was the most important image to you that got away?
What failure did you learn the most from?

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
What’s the thing you most hope to accomplish?

If you had to do it all over again, what would you change?
If you had another life to live a completely different life, what would you choose to do?

What are the most important questions to you?

Optional Questions

What’s photography really all about?

How did photography change the world?
How did photography change your world?

Who were the most important photographers?
Who are the most important photographers working today?

What’s the best thing about influence?
What’s the worst thing about influence?

What’s the best thing about our times?
What’s the worst thing about our times is?

What keeps you up at night?
What gets you going in the morning?

What’s your favorite movie?
What’s your favorite book?
What’s your favorite piece of music?

What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
What is your greatest fear?
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Who is your favorite hero in fiction?
Who are your heroes in real life?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your favorite journey?
On what occasion do you lie?
What do you dislike most about yourself?
What is your most marked characteristic?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What is your greatest regret?
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
What’s your most treasured possession?
What is your favorite occupation / past time?
What do you most value in your friends?
What’s your motto?
What other talent would you most like to have?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What is it that you most dislike?
How would you like to die?

 

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Photographs On Photography – Photographs

You’ll be inspired by these great photographers and these collections of their classic photographs.

 

Sam Abell

Ansel Adams

Robert Adams

Richard Benson

Christopher Burkett

John Paul Caponigro

Paul Caponigro

Harry Callahan

Julia Margaret Cameron

Keith Carter

Edward Curtis

David DuChemin

Elliot Erwitt

Walker Evans

Rober Frank

Lee Friedlander 1 & 2

Adam Fuss

Emmet Gowin

Lois Greenfield

Gregory Heisler

Kenro Izu

Stephen Johnson

Michael Kenna

Sean Kernan

Josef Koudelka

Jay Maisel

Eric Meola

Joel Meyerowitz

Arthur Meyerson

Duane Michals

Richard Misrach

James Nachtwey

William Neill

Arnold Newman

Olivia Parker

Irving Penn

John Pfahl

Eliot Porter

Chris Rainier

Sebastiao Salgado

John Sexton

Charles Sheeler

Aaron Siskind

Fredrick Sommer

Edward Steichen

Alfred Steiglitz

Paul Strand

Jock Sturges

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Joyce Tenneson

George Tice

Peter Turner

Jerry Uelsmann

Brett Weston

Edward Weston

Gary Winogrand

Huntington Witherill

Minor White

 

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Photographers on Photography – Quotes

 

We can all learn a lot from the photographers who make the classic photographs.

They’re inspiring!

Sam Abell 

Berenice Abbott 

Ansel Adams 

Robert Adams

Diane Arbus

Richard Avedon

Richard Benson

Ruth Bernhard

Bill Brandt

Christopher Burkett

Harry Callahan

Julia Margaret Cameron

Keith Carter

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Chuck Close 

Wynn Bullock

Edward Burtynsky 

John Paul Caponigro

Paul Caponigro 

Harold Edgerton

William Eggleston 

Alfred Eisendstadt

Elliot Erwitt

Walker Evans

Andreas Feininger 

Robert Frank

Lee Friedlander

Adam Fuss

Emmet Gowin

Ernst Haas

Gregory Heisler

Kenro Izu

Stephen Johnson

Michael Kenna 

Andre Kertesz

Josef Koudelka

David La Chapelle

Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Annie Liebovitz 

Jay Maisel

Sally Mann

Robert Mapplethorpe

Joel Meyerowitz

Arthur Meyerson

Duane Michals

Richard Misrach

James Nachtwey

Olivia Parker

Irving Penn

John Pfahl 

Eliot Porter

Chis Rainier

Sebastiao Salgado

John Sexton

Cindy Sherman

Stephen Shore

Aaron Siskind

W Eugene Smith

Fredrick Sommer

Edward Steichen

Alfred Steiglitz

Paul Strand

Jock Sturges

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Joyce Tenneson

George Tice

Jerry Uelsmann

Andy Warhol

Edward Weston

Weegee 

Minor White

Gary Winogrand

 

Photographers pick their favorite quotes by other photographers

 

John Paul Caponigro

Sean Duggan

David DuChemin

Mac Holbert

Sean Kernan

Jay Maisel

Eric Meola

Arthur Meyerson

Chris Orwig

Seth Resnick

John Sexton

Joyce Tenneson

Vincent Versace

Huntington Witherill

 

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Photographers On Photography – Videos

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Learn about the classic photographs from the photographers who made them.

It’s inspiring!

 

Sam Abell

Ansel Adams | View 1 View 2 | View 3 | View 4

Robert Adams

Diane Arbus

Richard Avedon

James Balog | View 1 View 2 | View 3

Richard Benson

Ruth Bernhard

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Phil Borges

Bill Brandt

Chris Burkett

Edward Burtynsky

John Paul Caponigro

Paul Caponigro

Harry Callahan

Keith Carter

Henri Cartier-Bresson  | View 1 | View 2  | View 3  | View 4  | View 5

Chuck Close

Anton Corbijn

Gregory Crewdson

Bruce Davidson

William Eggleston | View 1 View 2

Alfred Eisendstaedt

Walker Evans

Andreas Feininger

Robert Frank

Adam Fuss

Ralph Gibson

Laura Gilpin

Nan Goldin

Emmet Gowin

Lauren Greenfield

Lois Greenfield

Gregory Heisler | View 1 | View 2

David Hockney | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Kenro Izu

Chris James

Bill Jay

Chris Jordan

Ed Kashi

Michael Kenna

Sean Kernan

Andre Kertesz

David LaChapelle

Frans Lanting

Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Annie Leibovitz | View 1 | View 2

Jay Maisel | View 1 | View 2

Sally Mann | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Arthur Meyerson View 1 | View 2

Eric Meola

Duane Michals | View 1  View 2

Mary Ellen Mark

Steve McCurry

Joe McNally

Joel Meyerowitz

Richard Misrach

Cristina Mittermeier

Tina Modotti

Sarah Moon

Edward Muybridge

James Nachtwey

Arnold Newman

Helmut Newton

Elizabeth Opalenik

Gordon Parks

Martin Parr

Eliot Porter

Chris Rainier | View 1 | View 2

Eugene Richards

Sebastiao Salgado | View 1 View 2

John Sexton | View 1 | View 2

Cindy Sherman

Stephen Shore

Aaron Siskind

Eugene Smith

Rick Smolan

Fredrick Sommer

Edward Steichen

Alfred Stieglitz

Paul Strand

Jock Sturges

Hiroshi Sugimoto

John Szarkowski

Joyce Tenneson | View 1 | View 2

George Tice

Pete Turner

Jerry Uelsmann

Nick Veasey

Jeff Wall

Andy Warhol View

Weegee

Edward Weston

Kim Weston

Garry Winogrand

Dan Winters

Huntington Witherill | View 1 View 2

Art Wolfe

 

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Photographs By Great Photographers

 

You’ll be inspired by these great photographers and their classic photographs.

 

Sam Abell

Ansel Adams

Robert Adams

Richard Benson

Christopher Burkett

John Paul Caponigro

Paul Caponigro

Harry Callahan

Julia Margaret Cameron

Keith Carter

Edward Curtis

David DuChemin

Elliot Erwitt

Walker Evans

Rober Frank

Lee Friedlander 1 & 2

Adam Fuss

Emmet Gowin

Lois Greenfield

Gregory Heisler

Kenro Izu

Stephen Johnson

Michael Kenna

Sean Kernan

Josef Koudelka

Jay Maisel

Eric Meola

Joel Meyerowitz

Arthur Meyerson

Duane Michals

Richard Misrach

James Nachtwey

Arnold Newman

Olivia Parker

Irving Penn

John Pfahl

Eliot Porter

Chris Rainier

Sebastiao Salgado

John Sexton

Charles Sheeler

Aaron Siskind

Fredrick Sommer

Edward Steichen

Alfred Steiglitz

Paul Strand

Jock Sturges

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Joyce Tenneson

George Tice

Peter Turner

Jerry Uelsmann

Brett Weston

Edward Weston

Gary Winogrand

Huntington Witherill

Minor White

 

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12 Photographs Celebrated By John Paul Caponigro

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Alfred Stieglitz’ extended portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe is a penetratingly honest act of love.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_02

Christopher Burkett’s makes accurate representation an extension of his spirituality; he celebrates Creation by faithfully transcribing “The Book Of Nature”.

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Paul Caponigro’s “Galaxy Apple” reveals a macrocosm within a microcosm, demonstrating the power of metaphor; ordinary things are seen as extraordinary.

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Eliot Porter’s photography intuited more complex realtionships in nature before the field of chaos science was popularized.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_05

Pollution or blood? A tense mystery is created by Edward Burtyinsky’s beautiful images of distressed landscapes.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_06

Richard Misrach’s Desert Cantos examines a single subject (the American desert southwest) in many different ways over a long period of time, creating a dense web of interconnections.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_07

Adam Fuss’ photograms, as much about shadow as light, share a stance similar to many abstract painters who point to the object created more than what it refers, while at the same time highlighting the distortions that lenses can bring to representation. The questions his work raise are generative.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_08

Walter Chappelle’s Metaflora series creates images with plants, electricity, and photosensitive paper in complete darkness. What else can’t we see? What would we see if we could?

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_09

Jerry Uelsmann bring’s images in the mind’s eye into sharp focus with the most directly representational medium.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_10

Robert and Shana Parke-Harrison’s post-apocalyptic poems perform acts of care for the natural world despite their odds of success.

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_11

Courageous and honest or perverse and self-indulgent? The complex mix of beauty and taboo, infused with death and sexuality, and guilded with art historical references and fine craft is extremely provocative. It’s honest but is it Truthful? Is it wise?

12PhotographsCelebrated_JohnPaulCaponigro_12

Andy Goldsworthy’s photographs are all most of us see of his ephemeral earth works often made in remote locations. So what’s the real art? The performance? The object created? The photographic record? The books that collects those records? All of it?

………………..

Photographers look at and understand photographs differently than the average viewer. Their years of unique personal experience with the medium is special. For me, their insights open new windows into the medium, the world, and myself. I hope they do the same for you.

In this series of posts, each photographer selects 12 if their favorite photographs and provides a short insight into why these images are so moving to them.

I’m kicking off a series of photographer’s celebrating photographs.

View more Photographers Celebrate Photography here.

Stay tuned for upcoming additions.

View 12 Great Photographs By John Paul Caponigro here.

Read more quotes by John Paul Caponigro here.

Read our Quick Q&A here.

Read our Conversation here.

View video by John Paul Caponigro here.

33 Quotes By Photographer John Paul Caponigro

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Here are my favorite quotes by photographer John Paul Caponigro.

“A good question has many answers.” – John Paul Caponigro

“It takes asking many questions from many perspectives to truly understand something.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Inquiry is more important than answers, for it is the questions we ask and the way in which we ask them that defines us.” – John Paul Caponigro

“How do we know what we know? Is seeing believing? Is believing seeing?” – John Paul Caponigro

“The most important question is, ‘Am I asking the most important question?’ The second most important question is, ‘Am I asking the most important question in the most important way?'” – John Paul Caponigro

“Don’t ask “‘Should I …?’. Instead, ‘Ask what happens if I …?'” – John Paul Caponigro

“Action tests ideas.” – John Paul Caponigro

“It’s one thing to record the appearance of something, it’s another to share what it truly means to you.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Capturing the light reflected off things is different than being captured by them.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Seen from one perspective, photography is much more about elimination than inclusion. The images we make with a lens typically eliminate eighty percent of our field of view and everything that is out of our field of view. The shutter slices time, eliminating all moments before and after it opens and closes. Three dimensions are reduced to two. And in some cases color is removed. Can we accurately call these kinds of artifacts unaltered? The act of creation is an alteration.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Every photograph is altered, to one degree or another.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Images are altered in many ways, to many degrees, and for many reasons, so it’s important for viewers to be informed of both.” – John Paul Caponigro

“It’s important that we regularly reconsider, revise, and expand our practices, as our capabilities and needs evolve, both to strengthen our understanding of them and to promote our awareness of new practices and their conscientious uses.” – John Paul Caponigro

“We don’t have enough words for photography. Can you imagine writers having only one word for writing?” – John Paul Caponigro

“Listen carefully. The way(s) we speak about things is revealing.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Many times we are tempted to defer to the documents we create, rather than the direct experiences we have.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Very often there is too little information in photographs to deduce how they were made and even what they represent. We rely on context and supplemental information to confirm our observations, not simply the documents themselves.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Different people can photograph the same things with the same tools and create such different images.” – John Paul Caponigro

“We are the strongest filter we can place on the lens. We always point the lens both outward and inward.” – John Paul Caponigro

“We’re responsible for everything that’s included in the frame. We’re also responsible for what’s not included in the frame. We’re responsible for the way we frame the world.” – John Paul Caponigro

“The frame frames a frame of mind.” – John Paul Caponigro

“We see the world through our experience.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Photography extends our perception allowing us to see and experience more – second hand.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Photographs are never records of the way things are; they’re records of the way things were.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Surfaces simultaneously reveal and conceal.” – John Paul Caponigro

“All photographs are about light. The great majority of photographs record light as a way of describing objects in space. A few photographs are less about objects and more about the space that contains them. Still fewer photographs are about light itself.” – John Paul Caponigro

“A photograph is an invitation to look – and to look at looking.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Many oriental cultures make a distinction between two ways of looking – ‘hard eyes’ and ‘soft eyes’. When we look with hard eyes, we see specific details with sharp focus, but we don’t see the relationships between different details as well. When we look with soft eyes we see the relationships between everything in our field of vision, but with this softer focus, we don’t see all the details as clearly. It’s possible to look in two ways at once.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Looking and seeing are two different things.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Seeing creates growth.” – John Paul Caponigro

“The best plans evolve.” – John Paul Caponigro

“We talk about the vulnerability involved in sharing our work publicly. I don’t think we talk enough about the real vulnerability involved in making art; if we truly engage the process we are changed by it.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Art is a journey of discovery.” – John Paul Caponigro

“Through the experience of art, the powers of perception and transformation can be awakened, in both those who create it and those who re-perceive it.” – John Paul Caponigro

“It’s one thing to make a beautiful thing; it’s another thing to make a living thing.” – John Paul Caponigro

“My mantra is, ‘This or something better.'” – John Paul Caponigro

Read our conversation here.
Read more photographer’s quotes here.