“I only know how to approach a place by walking. For what does a street photographer do but walk and watch and wait and talk, and then watch and wait some more, trying to remain confident that the unexpected, the unkown, or the secret heart of the known awaits just around the corner.”
- Alex Webb, Magnum Photos
*Update – 24th February* – Came across this video today released by Magnum and Leica about Alex Webb’s work in Chicago…
“There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define; we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit.”
- Ansel Adams
Learn more about the life and works of Ansel Adams in this excellent PBS documentary…
“Style has no formula, but it has a secret key. It is the extension of your personality. The summation of this indefinable net of your feeling, knowledge and experience. Take colour as a totality of relations within a frame…colour is joy. One does not think joy. One is carried by it.”
-Ernst Haas – Colour Photography
Here’s a really interesting interview between Aidan Sullivan of Getty Images and Ernst Haas’s son, Alex Haas. Well worth a listen…
“If you say you really want my job, okay, here’s the deal. There are no more hobbies, no more fun. You can have fun doing the work, but you have to be completely obsessed with it. I think 99% of the people think that professional photography is travel and adventure, and they forget that photography is very, very hard work. You’re “on” all the time. When you go out the door to take pictures, nobody cares about any of the excuses about bad weather or logistics, or how the authorities wouldn’t let you do your job. All that matters is what the photos say, how much money the magazine spent on that time, and whether or not it’s a successful coverage. Most people don’t really want that.”
- Michael Nichols / National Geographic
Check out more from Michael Nichols in this fascinating video how he made his famous tree image for National Geographic…
