Thanks again, Alec! It's so generous of you to be putting your time and energy into these videos. You could easily monetize this with a Masterclass, and I'd happily pay. But, I sincerely appreciate you offering this to aspiring photographers. I have written your RUclips channel into my syllabus as a subtle (but strong) suggestion for any student who is working on a greater understanding of this complex medium. It's very generous of you to put your time/energy (again) into such an honest contemplation of the complexities of objectification, and exploitation in photography.
As a student I would honestly like to know about the other resources that you've included in your syllabus. I've watched all the videos of this channel, the talk really is priceless. So, I feel utterly inquisitive about the other resources that would enhance my understanding of the medium.
While I love all your book videos, this to me is the most profound and important to date. It isn’t just about art and who can make what kind of art, but about being more fully human. Thank you.
Wow, I'm so glad to see you talking about Jacob Holdt and his book! I read it (the entire text) a couple years ago after encountering his work in David Campany's excelled book The Open Road, in which, of course, your work is featured as well. I remember bringing Holdt's book to a photo book meet-up and I could tell that a lot of people were a bit queasy with American Photos and I still feel a bit queasy with aspects of it myself but when I read the text I realized that there is no way to appreciate the book without reading the text and as difficult as some of the text/images can be it's such an amazingly honest/earnest account that I feel like it is a real insight into the state of race in America. Sometimes Holdt's characterizations and language bothers me but I appreciate the fact that he is not trying to portray himself as the perfect anti-racist (and perfectly rehearsed anti-racist) but as someone trying to work through his own feelings and strategize on how to improve and understand the situation. So thank you for including your thoughts on the book and sharing it here. I did a search, a few years ago, trying to find some criticism of Holdt's book and only found a little. I remember one thing I read was that the pictures in the book of the various women Holdt had relationships with felt like trophies and that resonated with me. There's a lot of good in the book, if you take the time to read it, but it's certainly not perfect. However I think it's worthwhile for people to delve into this book anyway and I think it's a good example of the need to resist binary thinking (this is good, this is bad) because if we were to dismiss this work entirely because of its faults we would be missing the good points. It's such a rare thing for a white person to open themselves up, and open themselves up to criticism, when it comes to discussing race, poverty, discrimination and all the dynamics relating to those things. Holdt has taken some amazing photos but it's his words that I've found myself most grateful for. The fact that his words don't feel rehearsed, even in his most recent writings (like the interview you shared with Arthur Jafa) is amazing to me. Anyway, sorry for the long response. I rarely do this (write anything on youtube) but I was so pleased to watch your post about this that I had to respond. Thanks!
I very much appreciate your comment. Nobody is perfect, of course, but what I admire about Holdt is that he isn't trying so hard to act otherwise. It's honest, which is more valuable than perfection in my mind.
There was also a documentary type film concerning his life and work which I remember seeing sometime in the early '80s(?) at Film Forum in NY. Holdt did not have a trained photographic eye, nor any god given, predisposed photographic ability to speak of. One didn't particularly enjoy his photos for their aesthetic value, but I never doubted his respect and sincerity for the subject matter he depicted so openly. When he outlined his philosophy of survival in the US (in the rather impoverished, back roads US he lived in those years), his philosophy of saying "yes" to every experience (I believe the one caveat was that his actions caused no harm to anyone else), it didn't take much to realize that he subjected himself to considerably more than anything I would ever contemplate. And he quickly made me realize just how strong he had to be psychically to repeatedly expose himself to situations which would not have the best of outcomes- to say the very least. And still he continued to make revelatory work with the people he lived and shared his live with. Not saying he's a saint, but a truly unique and remarkable man to be sure.
2 года назад+3
Jacob is an really interesting person. We share a common friend whom invited me to Jacob last release party for the book “Om at sige ja” (“about saying yes”) and I have never seen such a diverse crowd of people cross class and religion. I am glad you “surrendered” to his work. Love you videos💪🏻 and you Magnum Storytelling “workshop”.
I have known about Jacob Holdt’s work since I first saw him do his slideshow of American Pictures in late 70s Copenhagen. Your video has opened up so much more about the work and of Jacob Holdt’s empathy with the people he meets that I see it in a much fuller light now. Thank you!
Thank you for bringing attention to American Pictures, a book that has been on my shelf for nearly 40 years, though parts of it are difficult to look at. I bought it after seeing Jacob Holdt present his slideshow at my university in the mid-1980s. I always perceived his project as primarily political, rather than artistic. These days we don't separate the two as much as we did back then. For me, the text and pictures were always inseparable, and as you observed, the text describes the motivation of an extraordinarily courageous, creative and sometimes reckless journalist who did not believe in keeping any distance between himself and his subjects.
wow this video is a masterpiece, just the way you reveal the story and information about these books and your experience of the context changing with these discoveries.
While studying photography in art school in the Netherlands none of my classmates nor teachers had heard of Jacob Holdt's work and story. Nor did most of the photographers I had met in Switzerland either. He seems to have acquired popularity in the US but 'American Pictures' remains relatively unheard of here in Europe. Perhaps it is too raw and confronting. It is nice to see that someone is presenting and discussing this classic and unique humanistic project that has its place in the history of photography and that goes beyond the surface of what 'humanistic' photography might entail. Thank you for your insights and honesty. Best wishes.
Thanks for the video, and sharing your insight into Jacob Holdts work and his empathy. His is so good at pointing out racism in many forms. I saw his slideshow in the late 70's when I was a young teenager. That broadended my view on the world, living in a small town and showed me how photography can tell stories
Such an important topic during a time when it's so easy to disparage any point of view that is not your own. If more of us had the commitment to develop a true empathy for our fellow human beings, as Holdt clearly did, we would all be a lot better off. Thank you for sharing your experience of becoming more open about your own assumptions.
This is like open university except much better. A course in understanding photography, ways to appreciate a book, deciphering pictures and text. Many thanks Alec.
Brilliant and timely. It often takes an outsider to point up the blind spots of a society. I got that from reading sci-fi when I was young, where the best writers would depict an alien's astonishment at some of the ridiculous antics of Earthlings. The group The Band gave us a Canadian's eye view of American culture. That book sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Brilliant video in its honesty (yours and his). I had never heard of him. On an technical matter I have my sound all the way up and plugged to the speakers in order to understand what you say.
When we know the why behind a body of work it melts into us and vice versa. Being honest with one’s self is not easy but when I do, then my purpose and results are fluid. Thank you, Alec, for the affirmation and information!
Another great lesson! The simple act of looking is so personal; it's quite easy to lose track of what constitutes an ethical, let alone meaningful, interaction with a subject - be it through the viewfinder or with the printed work or others. Poverty and suffering have been so aestheticized, and so fetishized, that when looking at these photos out of context we are wont to see exploitation rather than love and understanding. This says more about us than it does of Jacob Holdt, whose intentions seem nothing if not humanity affirming. It's a shame really; I deeply admire the courage and honesty depicted here.
Alec thanks. Great to, again, take us with you on this personal journey not just into books or photography but into fields rarely touched upon. Love it!
Great episode! For as much as you may have "rambled" on, you actually barely scratched the surface on JH's incredible life/process. I saw his slide show around 2009 at the NYPF. Utterly jaw dropping ( both the images and the stories behind them) from beginning to end. Im pretty sure it ran at least 3 hours including the QnA but I still didn't want it to end. I would encourage anyone to dig even deeper into his story.
This was incredibly insightful and hit home that reminder that so often works of art we ingest require a patience we're not prepared to offer until our desire to investigate aligns with them. I love photobooks immensely, both collecting and producing them, but there are just those few that I keep backslashed on the other side of one of my shelves that for whatever reason I just can't bring myself to fall into. Some sit there for years, and then suddenly I'll learn new information or be reading something that clicks in my mind and then the work will make sense and moves me. I love hearing how you discover (or rediscover) your fascination with whichever books on which you decide to lecture here. Thanks for continuing to make these 'ramblings'-they always help reinvigorate my lazy brain into critical thinking mode! ~Tynan
Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your insights and make a video like this. You too are being very honest with us, and so we all appreciate how you are leading by example not in just your own insights of photography, but of the human experience.
I met Jacob Holdt when he came to my college (Mich State Univ) in like 1991. Talked with him after his presentation of the book, bought the book, which he signed. Being young and impressionable, I was pretty moved by his presentation. Sadly, I don't have that copy any longer.
Hitchhiking. Without knowing exactly where you'll get off again. Many thanks for the ride, Also thanks for speaking about changing your mind and publishing it.
Alec, thank you so much for these videos. I was unfamiliar with the work of Jacob Holdt until today and would have undoubtedly passed up on the work for reasons that you mentioned.
Hey Alec! Have really enjoyed your videos so far. They've allowed me to further develop my understanding of the 'photo book' and I find it fanstiacting to hear how you see images :)
I just had an emotional argument about something similar. We, the photographers of the world, must must take tough pictures. The ones that make this world uncomfortable, for a lot of misery goes unnoticed, unseen. I loved this video, this is important, very important.
A very interesting rambling indeed. I'd like to tell something about this. It's not about your thoughts which I don't know, but an echo about being open minded. It's almost a common place today in France to be "anti-woke", thinking it's like being free minded... Well, I guess this discussion between Jafa and Holdt could bring our feet back on the ground in this context. We all need to talk and listen to each other, more than ever.
@@phiswe I never said who was right or wrong. If you'd like to know, I'm against racism. But telling this doesn't say much and doesn't make anything better. In my opinion, proselytizing convinces only those who are already convinced. The only way is to understand each other. Things are not black and white and It's not as simple as if there were the good and the bad guys. But obviously, If there's no will for that, there's no way out.
Hi Alec, I'm so grateful i have discovered your channel. I started taking photographs about 2 years ago. I feel like a 42yrs baby and your vlog is like milk to me ! It's kind of a strange metaphor but hopefully it will speak to you. I appreciate everything about your videos, from the tone and pace of your voice to the priceless content that you are sharing. Thank you so much for this nourishing and inspiring breath of fresh air to me 🙏🏻
Really excellent. Perhaps the bigger story here is the growing absence of empathy in American society. If we shut ourselves (and others) off from representing people who are different from us, we are closing one of the most important doors to empathy. Worse, we are isolating everyone in their own silo with the groups to which they are purported to belong. It then becomes taboo to even attempt to represent society as a whole; and, if we can't attempt to do that, we no longer have a society. All that will be left is a series of parallel silos, which will eventually be armed to the teeth with semiautomatic weapons and claiming self-defense as they shoot at their neighbors.
Who has the right to take a picture is a big question. I live in Melbourne, Australia. The things a photographer can’t take pictures of here are children and the homeless. I’m often drawn to empty playgrounds as food for thought if not subject matter. I see the homeless everywhere in the city and the closely surrounding suburbs, former working class areas, once the poorest neighbourhoods in the city, but now like so many similar places in the world, the stamping grounds of the affluent middle class. Political correctness demands we refrain, and the people who are most adamant, assume the high moral ground and are mostly inflexible in imposing their values. Holdt could have given in to very similar values in his day but he pursued the truth of what he saw with what I would call more Christ-like, than missionary, zeal. As if he was testifying to the truth and not to do so would be as wrong as retelling a lie. As you say, Jacob Holdt is aware of the moral dilemma of doing what he does and being who he is. The only other people who could be that honest, would be people who embodied the injustices they depicted but either had no awareness of the injustice, or perhaps no fear that they would ever be held to account for it. Thanks for sharing the books and your own journey of discovery.
That last Holdt's thought about the police reminded me some Pasolini's articles about the same topic: how policemen were even more proletarian than the 1968 bourgeois students they were fighting against.
Ramblings ramblings oh what insightful ramblings, these times people are to superficial with no real depth or context to things are quick to shut things down, even before you came to your reasons for seeing in a new light. I appreciated the work itself, its rawness, reality/realism, I like to think of photography as in couple hundred years, realism is worth more historically to ideas about place, what's maybe lost is the understanding of space, unknown cultures within cultures, something I'm fascinated about, in todays world its ever changing fluid space. A recent speech by our president Michael D Higgins(Ireland), approaches this idea with the Irish question and British empire, looking back, instead of selective narratives, respecting all narratives, and understanding others can any true peace and forgiveness begin. would people like to see real images of the roman empire in its day etc, would they care who took the pictures, people are to sensitive today. But in regards to Jacob, wow, did not know his process or approach, almost like that of a true investigative journalist unlike journalism today, I don't think its a heathy approach, but nobody can question him. As long as there is realism, no matter the operator, good or bad, every angle has an understanding, we must understand and read this. Love all your ramblings, enriching in many ways look forward to seeing more.
One more great video!! But... You said that he is not doing art but educates and by educates you mean that he shows some content to inform certain people about an important situation that happens in the world with the goal to make this human beings act more humanely let's roughly say. My point is why this "education" can not be raised in the artistic level? If the artistic and educational motives are aligned and co exist harmoniously ,it would be art and not just education!! Thanks for the videos we learn a lot from you 😊
I can't put my finger on it. Even after watching the entire video, I still feel like I'm looking at poverty porn when I look at Jacob Holdt's work. Even if he's self-aware of his perspective and he seems genuine in his intentions, I take issue with the way he photographs his subjects. It could be that the work is just not for me. I do admit that I have a visceral reaction to people (especially black people) being brutalized. But I think that one of the main things that bother me is that I feel like the humanity of the subjects is left out, while their brutal conditions are being highlighted.
I own this book, and gave up reading it of the simple reasons you mention first: Too much text, ugly font and too small images. Your second kind of problems with it is related to the general question on who has the right to tell the story of something. I've thought on that for some time, and came to the conclusion that anyone must have the right to tell stories about everything, but everyone have the moral and intellectual obligation to do the work properly. If they don't they should expect criticism from others who knows better. Anything else would actually make art impossible. Or am I wrong? Can I only tell Swedish stories, and not Danish ones in spite of the fact that I jump the train to Copenhagen five days a week. (I'm a trans-national commuter. 😉)
Even though Jafa found beauty in and a connection to Holdt's work it's painful to think that the best representation of African American life at the time came from a white European photographer. I don't doubt that Holdt did develop meaningful relationships with the people he took pictures of but the audience for American Pictures were not the subjects in the book.I appreciate the context and anecdotes throughout the book but it still comes across as very exploitative to me. I feel very conflicted!
The idea that a white person can’t photograph black people, or poor people, without it being exploitive is patently ridiculous. What he says in the text, or his personal philosophy, is irrelevant to me regarding that. I hear the same nonsense from critics of street photography who claim it’s exploitive or “cheap” to take photographs of homeless people.
kind of strange to be somewhat dismissive of the work until you found out the guy got raped then all of a sudden youre interested 🧐 i understand most people need a spark notes biography of an artist to check that privilege before they can like something/try to understand something but i guess i'm still not fully used to that as standard operating procedure😵💫 with that being said i still don't fuck with this book
I had that thought too because of how great I think these talks are, but it feels genuine and refreshing -- a nice contrast to over the top confidence of RUclips photography experts pushing Lightroom presets
Always excited when one of these pop up in my subscription feed. Hope you're well, Alec.
So true !
Thanks so much Matt
Thanks again, Alec! It's so generous of you to be putting your time and energy into these videos. You could easily monetize this with a Masterclass, and I'd happily pay. But, I sincerely appreciate you offering this to aspiring photographers. I have written your RUclips channel into my syllabus as a subtle (but strong) suggestion for any student who is working on a greater understanding of this complex medium. It's very generous of you to put your time/energy (again) into such an honest contemplation of the complexities of objectification, and exploitation in photography.
Thank you Matt
As a student I would honestly like to know about the other resources that you've included in your syllabus. I've watched all the videos of this channel, the talk really is priceless. So, I feel utterly inquisitive about the other resources that would enhance my understanding of the medium.
While I love all your book videos, this to me is the most profound and important to date. It isn’t just about art and who can make what kind of art, but about being more fully human. Thank you.
Thanks so much
@@AlecSothRUclips I have all of Birney Imes’s books (I think), now to find an affordable copy of “American Pictures” 😐 Thanks again!
I agree wholeheartedly. A sage reminder for us all
Wow, I'm so glad to see you talking about Jacob Holdt and his book! I read it (the entire text) a couple years ago after encountering his work in David Campany's excelled book The Open Road, in which, of course, your work is featured as well. I remember bringing Holdt's book to a photo book meet-up and I could tell that a lot of people were a bit queasy with American Photos and I still feel a bit queasy with aspects of it myself but when I read the text I realized that there is no way to appreciate the book without reading the text and as difficult as some of the text/images can be it's such an amazingly honest/earnest account that I feel like it is a real insight into the state of race in America. Sometimes Holdt's characterizations and language bothers me but I appreciate the fact that he is not trying to portray himself as the perfect anti-racist (and perfectly rehearsed anti-racist) but as someone trying to work through his own feelings and strategize on how to improve and understand the situation.
So thank you for including your thoughts on the book and sharing it here. I did a search, a few years ago, trying to find some criticism of Holdt's book and only found a little. I remember one thing I read was that the pictures in the book of the various women Holdt had relationships with felt like trophies and that resonated with me. There's a lot of good in the book, if you take the time to read it, but it's certainly not perfect. However I think it's worthwhile for people to delve into this book anyway and I think it's a good example of the need to resist binary thinking (this is good, this is bad) because if we were to dismiss this work entirely because of its faults we would be missing the good points. It's such a rare thing for a white person to open themselves up, and open themselves up to criticism, when it comes to discussing race, poverty, discrimination and all the dynamics relating to those things. Holdt has taken some amazing photos but it's his words that I've found myself most grateful for. The fact that his words don't feel rehearsed, even in his most recent writings (like the interview you shared with Arthur Jafa) is amazing to me.
Anyway, sorry for the long response. I rarely do this (write anything on youtube) but I was so pleased to watch your post about this that I had to respond. Thanks!
I very much appreciate your comment. Nobody is perfect, of course, but what I admire about Holdt is that he isn't trying so hard to act otherwise. It's honest, which is more valuable than perfection in my mind.
There was also a documentary type film concerning his life and work which I remember seeing sometime in the early '80s(?) at Film Forum in NY. Holdt did not have a trained photographic eye, nor any god given, predisposed photographic ability to speak of. One didn't particularly enjoy his photos for their aesthetic value, but I never doubted his respect and sincerity for the subject matter he depicted so openly. When he outlined his philosophy of survival in the US (in the rather impoverished, back roads US he lived in those years), his philosophy of saying "yes" to every experience (I believe the one caveat was that his actions caused no harm to anyone else), it didn't take much to realize that he subjected himself to considerably more than anything I would ever contemplate. And he quickly made me realize just how strong he had to be psychically to repeatedly expose himself to situations which would not have the best of outcomes- to say the very least. And still he continued to make revelatory work with the people he lived and shared his live with. Not saying he's a saint, but a truly unique and remarkable man to be sure.
Jacob is an really interesting person. We share a common friend whom invited me to Jacob last release party for the book “Om at sige ja” (“about saying yes”) and I have never seen such a diverse crowd of people cross class and religion.
I am glad you “surrendered” to his work.
Love you videos💪🏻 and you Magnum Storytelling “workshop”.
Thanks so much Jakob. That's a telling anecdote about the party.
I have known about Jacob Holdt’s work since I first saw him do his slideshow of American Pictures in late 70s Copenhagen.
Your video has opened up so much more about the work and of Jacob Holdt’s empathy with the people he meets that I see it in a much fuller light now. Thank you!
I wish I could have experience one of those slideshows. Thanks for your comment.
Thank you for bringing attention to American Pictures, a book that has been on my shelf for nearly 40 years, though parts of it are difficult to look at. I bought it after seeing Jacob Holdt present his slideshow at my university in the mid-1980s. I always perceived his project as primarily political, rather than artistic. These days we don't separate the two as much as we did back then. For me, the text and pictures were always inseparable, and as you observed, the text describes the motivation of an extraordinarily courageous, creative and sometimes reckless journalist who did not believe in keeping any distance between himself and his subjects.
You can ramble on about photo books any day. So good to see and learn about photographers I’ve never heard of. Thanks for sharing.
wow this video is a masterpiece, just the way you reveal the story and information about these books and your experience of the context changing with these discoveries.
I have had that book in my bookshelf for years, but I haven't read it. So, now I will!
While studying photography in art school in the Netherlands none of my classmates nor teachers had heard of Jacob Holdt's work and story. Nor did most of the photographers I had met in Switzerland either. He seems to have acquired popularity in the US but 'American Pictures' remains relatively unheard of here in Europe. Perhaps it is too raw and confronting. It is nice to see that someone is presenting and discussing this classic and unique humanistic project that has its place in the history of photography and that goes beyond the surface of what 'humanistic' photography might entail. Thank you for your insights and honesty. Best wishes.
Thanks for the video, and sharing your insight into Jacob Holdts work and his empathy. His is so good at pointing out racism in many forms.
I saw his slideshow in the late 70's when I was a young teenager. That broadended my view on the world, living in a small town and showed me how photography can tell stories
Thank you Alec for sharing your thoughts on this subject. I can tell you had a rambling epistemic lesson.
Such an important topic during a time when it's so easy to disparage any point of view that is not your own. If more of us had the commitment to develop a true empathy for our fellow human beings, as Holdt clearly did, we would all be a lot better off. Thank you for sharing your experience of becoming more open about your own assumptions.
This is like open university except much better. A course in understanding photography, ways to appreciate a book, deciphering pictures and text. Many thanks Alec.
Thank you!
As always, a great pleasure. Thanks Alec.
Thanks for the lesson! I love to learn with your videos, Happy new year !
Brilliant and timely. It often takes an outsider to point up the blind spots of a society. I got that from reading sci-fi when I was young, where the best writers would depict an alien's astonishment at some of the ridiculous antics of Earthlings. The group The Band gave us a Canadian's eye view of American culture. That book sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing.
This was a fantastic exploration, and a great example a shift in mindset. Thank you.
This is content on another level. Great stuff.
Always glad to see one of your videos pop up
Brilliant video in its honesty (yours and his). I had never heard of him. On an technical matter I have my sound all the way up and plugged to the speakers in order to understand what you say.
When we know the why behind a body of work it melts into us and vice versa. Being honest with one’s self is not easy but when I do, then my purpose and results are fluid. Thank you, Alec, for the affirmation and information!
Another great lesson!
The simple act of looking is so personal; it's quite easy to lose track of what constitutes an ethical, let alone meaningful, interaction with a subject - be it through the viewfinder or with the printed work or others.
Poverty and suffering have been so aestheticized, and so fetishized, that when looking at these photos out of context we are wont to see exploitation rather than love and understanding. This says more about us than it does of Jacob Holdt, whose intentions seem nothing if not humanity affirming.
It's a shame really; I deeply admire the courage and honesty depicted here.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes.
Alec thanks. Great to, again, take us with you on this personal journey not just into books or photography but into fields rarely touched upon. Love it!
Alec, thank you for the way you dive deep and share your insights. Truly captivating.
Thank you Alec for this highly interesting insight and for sharing how you re-approached this work by Jacon Holdt!
Great episode! For as much as you may have "rambled" on, you actually barely scratched the surface on JH's incredible life/process. I saw his slide show around 2009 at the NYPF. Utterly jaw dropping ( both the images and the stories behind them) from beginning to end. Im pretty sure it ran at least 3 hours including the QnA but I still didn't want it to end. I would encourage anyone to dig even deeper into his story.
This was incredibly insightful and hit home that reminder that so often works of art we ingest require a patience we're not prepared to offer until our desire to investigate aligns with them. I love photobooks immensely, both collecting and producing them, but there are just those few that I keep backslashed on the other side of one of my shelves that for whatever reason I just can't bring myself to fall into. Some sit there for years, and then suddenly I'll learn new information or be reading something that clicks in my mind and then the work will make sense and moves me. I love hearing how you discover (or rediscover) your fascination with whichever books on which you decide to lecture here. Thanks for continuing to make these 'ramblings'-they always help reinvigorate my lazy brain into critical thinking mode! ~Tynan
Thank you so much Alec for another great video!
Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your insights and make a video like this. You too are being very honest with us, and so we all appreciate how you are leading by example not in just your own insights of photography, but of the human experience.
I met Jacob Holdt when he came to my college (Mich State Univ) in like 1991. Talked with him after his presentation of the book, bought the book, which he signed. Being young and impressionable, I was pretty moved by his presentation. Sadly, I don't have that copy any longer.
Hitchhiking. Without knowing exactly where you'll get off again.
Many thanks for the ride, Also thanks for speaking about changing your mind and publishing it.
Alec, thank you so much for these videos. I was unfamiliar with the work of Jacob Holdt until today and would have undoubtedly passed up on the work for reasons that you mentioned.
Hey Alec! Have really enjoyed your videos so far. They've allowed me to further develop my understanding of the 'photo book' and I find it fanstiacting to hear how you see images :)
Thanks for putting your time into another video!
gracias Alec!
thank you again Alec
a beautiful message, beautifully conveyed.
I just had an emotional argument about something similar. We, the photographers of the world, must must take tough pictures. The ones that make this world uncomfortable, for a lot of misery goes unnoticed, unseen. I loved this video, this is important, very important.
Great video, thanks for sharing your experience!
This is so good, thank you
Lovely Alec. Lovely story and lovely telling
A very interesting rambling indeed. I'd like to tell something about this. It's not about your thoughts which I don't know, but an echo about being open minded. It's almost a common place today in France to be "anti-woke", thinking it's like being free minded... Well, I guess this discussion between Jafa and Holdt could bring our feet back on the ground in this context. We all need to talk and listen to each other, more than ever.
Well said
@@phiswe I never said who was right or wrong. If you'd like to know, I'm against racism. But telling this doesn't say much and doesn't make anything better. In my opinion, proselytizing convinces only those who are already convinced. The only way is to understand each other. Things are not black and white and It's not as simple as if there were the good and the bad guys. But obviously, If there's no will for that, there's no way out.
@@phiswe Of course. Stupidity is on each side. Besides, skin color isn't a relevant criteria in itself. Maybe is it the source of confusion...
thank you for these videos (and for your work!)
Hi Alec,
I'm so grateful i have discovered your channel. I started taking photographs about 2 years ago. I feel like a 42yrs baby and your vlog is like milk to me ! It's kind of a strange metaphor but hopefully it will speak to you. I appreciate everything about your videos, from the tone and pace of your voice to the priceless content that you are sharing. Thank you so much for this nourishing and inspiring breath of fresh air to me 🙏🏻
So kind, thanks Nathalie
Really excellent. Perhaps the bigger story here is the growing absence of empathy in American society. If we shut ourselves (and others) off from representing people who are different from us, we are closing one of the most important doors to empathy. Worse, we are isolating everyone in their own silo with the groups to which they are purported to belong. It then becomes taboo to even attempt to represent society as a whole; and, if we can't attempt to do that, we no longer have a society. All that will be left is a series of parallel silos, which will eventually be armed to the teeth with semiautomatic weapons and claiming self-defense as they shoot at their neighbors.
Amazing lecture Alec
"A wall of aestheticism" - love that
Phenomenal video. Thank you.
please come back alec!
Amazing. thanks so much for this.
COMM’N MR. SOTH! It’s been forever since your last video. Please NEW VIDEOS soon!
Who has the right to take a picture is a big question. I live in Melbourne, Australia. The things a photographer can’t take pictures of here are children and the homeless. I’m often drawn to empty playgrounds as food for thought if not subject matter. I see the homeless everywhere in the city and the closely surrounding suburbs, former working class areas, once the poorest neighbourhoods in the city, but now like so many similar places in the world, the stamping grounds of the affluent middle class. Political correctness demands we refrain, and the people who are most adamant, assume the high moral ground and are mostly inflexible in imposing their values. Holdt could have given in to very similar values in his day but he pursued the truth of what he saw with what I would call more Christ-like, than missionary, zeal. As if he was testifying to the truth and not to do so would be as wrong as retelling a lie. As you say, Jacob Holdt is aware of the moral dilemma of doing what he does and being who he is. The only other people who could be that honest, would be people who embodied the injustices they depicted but either had no awareness of the injustice, or perhaps no fear that they would ever be held to account for it. Thanks for sharing the books and your own journey of discovery.
That last Holdt's thought about the police reminded me some Pasolini's articles about the same topic: how policemen were even more proletarian than the 1968 bourgeois students they were fighting against.
Ramblings ramblings oh what insightful ramblings, these times people are to superficial with no real depth or context to things are quick to shut things down, even before you came to your reasons for seeing in a new light. I appreciated the work itself, its rawness, reality/realism, I like to think of photography as in couple hundred years, realism is worth more historically to ideas about place, what's maybe lost is the understanding of space, unknown cultures within cultures, something I'm fascinated about, in todays world its ever changing fluid space. A recent speech by our president Michael D Higgins(Ireland), approaches this idea with the Irish question and British empire, looking back, instead of selective narratives, respecting all narratives, and understanding others can any true peace and forgiveness begin. would people like to see real images of the roman empire in its day etc, would they care who took the pictures, people are to sensitive today. But in regards to Jacob, wow, did not know his process or approach, almost like that of a true investigative journalist unlike journalism today, I don't think its a heathy approach, but nobody can question him. As long as there is realism, no matter the operator, good or bad, every angle has an understanding, we must understand and read this. Love all your ramblings, enriching in many ways look forward to seeing more.
One more great video!!
But... You said that he is not doing art but educates and by educates you mean that he shows some content to inform certain people about an important situation that happens in the world with the goal to make this human beings act more humanely let's roughly say.
My point is why this "education" can not be raised in the artistic level?
If the artistic and educational motives are aligned and co exist harmoniously ,it would be art and not just education!!
Thanks for the videos we learn a lot from you 😊
Water Light Time, thoughts and rambles what do you feel from David Doubilet work?
I appreciate the Joe Pera appreciation. Sort of a funny intersection. Love of the little things in life, I suppose :)
Connection or not, I’m a fan
Yes. Finally.
Hey Alec, are these talks available anywhere in a podcast form?
No, hard to me imagine them with the visual, but a lot of people tell me they fall asleep to them :)
reading re-reading others
other analog photography:
ruclips.net/video/yS8DmCFp8kA/видео.html
Great video as always! Thank you! Is there a way to contact you and invite you for an interview on my channel? It would be my please. Martin
Oh that would be awesome! My two favourite RUclips channels!
whoa.
I can't put my finger on it. Even after watching the entire video, I still feel like I'm looking at poverty porn when I look at Jacob Holdt's work. Even if he's self-aware of his perspective and he seems genuine in his intentions, I take issue with the way he photographs his subjects.
It could be that the work is just not for me. I do admit that I have a visceral reaction to people (especially black people) being brutalized.
But I think that one of the main things that bother me is that I feel like the humanity of the subjects is left out, while their brutal conditions are being highlighted.
I understand. Even though I haven’t seen the slideshow, I’m almost certain that it would be a less problematic presentation
I own this book, and gave up reading it of the simple reasons you mention first: Too much text, ugly font and too small images.
Your second kind of problems with it is related to the general question on who has the right to tell the story of something. I've thought on that for some time, and came to the conclusion that anyone must have the right to tell stories about everything, but everyone have the moral and intellectual obligation to do the work properly. If they don't they should expect criticism from others who knows better.
Anything else would actually make art impossible. Or am I wrong? Can I only tell Swedish stories, and not Danish ones in spite of the fact that I jump the train to Copenhagen five days a week. (I'm a trans-national commuter. 😉)
I don't have the answer to this question, that's for sure.
it's a rumbling about hypocrisy, that's what about
unbelievable
I wonder would you still have this attitude if Jacob Holdt's book had not done as well as it did.....
Hard to say
Even though Jafa found beauty in and a connection to Holdt's work it's painful to think that the best representation of African American life at the time came from a white European photographer. I don't doubt that Holdt did develop meaningful relationships with the people he took pictures of but the audience for American Pictures were not the subjects in the book.I appreciate the context and anecdotes throughout the book but it still comes across as very exploitative to me. I feel very conflicted!
The idea that a white person can’t photograph black people, or poor people, without it being exploitive is patently ridiculous. What he says in the text, or his personal philosophy, is irrelevant to me regarding that.
I hear the same nonsense from critics of street photography who claim it’s exploitive or “cheap” to take photographs of homeless people.
kind of strange to be somewhat dismissive of the work until you found out the guy got raped then all of a sudden youre interested 🧐 i understand most people need a spark notes biography of an artist to check that privilege before they can like something/try to understand something but i guess i'm still not fully used to that as standard operating procedure😵💫 with that being said i still don't fuck with this book
you should stop using this self-deprecating intro
I am what I am
I had that thought too because of how great I think these talks are, but it feels genuine and refreshing -- a nice contrast to over the top confidence of RUclips photography experts pushing Lightroom presets