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The master photographer charts his influences and development.

Category: Photographers, Video
Tags: black and white, Photographers, ralph gibson, Video

Sean Kernan’s The Secret Books

Sean Kernan makes insightful comments on twelve photographs.

“At this point I most respond to things that stir me to a kind of seeing that I didn’t think I could do. They make me want to try, even though I have no idea where or how to begin. This group contains work from major artists and workshop students, proving that anyone can break through.” – Sean Kernan

Anselm Keifer. I love this artist’s work, and in particular his books, of which this is one. The distressing of the photographic image and its inclusion in a book makes me think it’s a history of the end of the world…that has been left out in the atomic rain.

Arno Minkinnen. Arno’s “subject” has been his body for so long that he has found the deepest caves of the mind. They are not only what he thinks but of what they make me think. In this case I see some Finnish shamanistic ritual that takes place at the threshold of life/death, with passage going either way.

Diane Arbus. This seems to sum up all the mystery of her seeing. The more you think and say about this image, the further afield you drift. Just look at it and shut up.

Duane Michals. So often we look at a photograph. Here we start to read it and realize that we are being drawn in as a player, as a subject of the…picture. And so is anyone else who looks at it. Fantastic!

Irving Penn. This photo knocked me out when I saw it. It is not documentary. Instead Penn has bridged the world of the highland Quechuan Indians of Peru and the formality of Brozino, the great Rennaisance portraitist.

Larry Clark. Photographers love to visit other worlds (see Penn, above), but Larry lived in the drug world and he had a camera. Tough, tough pictures. To learn more, read Dennis Johnson’s book, Jesus’ Son.

Michelle Elloway. This picture started as a workshop assignment to photograph a place where something had happened. I said nothing about writing down what it was that had happened, but the photographer blew the class away by writing the results of the event, turning the whole thing into a chilling Shirley-Jackson moment. (If you don’t know Shirley Jackson, read The Lottery.

Ralph Gibson. Ralph’s work is sui generis, very simple, graphic and pregnant. This photo isn’t really like that, thanks to that wavering curtain, I think.

Rebecca Biddle Mossman. I love pictures that get beyond thinking. I am sure that the photographer just started off the situation, then saw something and pushed it, then just let it happen. (That’s my guess.) It’s the best way of working, and it leads to photos that you can’t believe you took.

Saul Leiter. I’m giving him three, because he is new to me and because he has a freedom that I wish I had! The first is just saucy, impudent, sexy and innocent. I look at this woman and I just want to give her a shirt and take her out for coffee. She’s young in the picture, but I’d still love to meet her and say “So, tell me about your life.”
Or maybe not. Maybe it’s better to just suspend in the moment.

Saul Leiter. The second Leiter is just…ah…like watching a juggler make a perfect catch from completely off center.

Saul Leiter. The third Leiter brings together three entirely different kind of images and resolves them while somehow leaving them intact.

Learn more about Sean Kernan here.

View 12 Great Photographs By Sean Kernan here.

Read our Quick Q&A here.

Read our Conversation here.

View video by Sean Kernan here.

View more Photographers Celebrate Photography here.

Category: Photographers - Celebrations
Tags: celebration, Inspiration, Photographers, Photography, sean kernan

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

Robert Adams | View

Diane Arbus| View

Richard Avedon | View

James Balog | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Ruth Bernhard | View

Yann Arthus-Bertrand | View

Phil Borges | View

Bill Brandt | View

Edward Burtinsky | View

John Paul Caponigro | View

Paul Caponigro | View

Harry Callahan | 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

Ralph Gibson | View

Laura Gilpin | View

Nan Goldin | View

Emmet Gowin | View

Gregory Heisler | View 1 | View 2

David Hockney | View 1 | View 2

Chris James | Coming Soon

Bill Jay | View

Chris Jordan | 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

Sally Mann | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Arthur Meyerson | View

Duane Michals | View 1  | View 2

Mary Ellen Mark | View

Steve McCurry | View

Joe McNally | View

Joel Meyerowitz | View

Richard Misrach |  View

Tina Modotti | View

Sarah Moon | View

Edward Muybridge | View

James Nachtwey | View

Arnold Newman | View

Helmut Newton | View

Gordon Parks| View

Martin Parr | View

Eliot Porter | View

Chris Rainier | Coming

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

Hiroshi Sugimoto | View

Joyce Tenneson | View

George Tice | View

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

–

View new additions to this collection here.

Read The Essential Collection Of Photographer’s Quotes here.

Read my conversations Photographers On Photography here.

Category: Photographers - Video
Tags: documentary, Photographers, Video

Enjoy this collection of quotes on visualization.

“Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose.” – Bo Bennett

“Visualization and belief in a pattern of reality activates the creative power of realization.” – A. L. Linall, Jr.

“Try out your ideas by visualizing them in action.” – David Seabury

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

“Having a mental snapshot of where you are, where you are going, and what you are moving toward is incredibly powerful.” – Sara Blakely

“The harder you work… and visualize something, the luckier you get.” – Seal

Read more

Category: Creativity - Quotes
Tags: Creativity, Creativity - Quotes, visualization

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