I’ve been making videos about photography here on RUclips for almost 7 years at this point and the negative comments can still get to me. Just know that what you’re doing here is a breath of fresh air and there are so many of us that really appreciate it.
Matt, always have in mind that the people giving negative comments are that desperate that they are actually spending their time hating strangers on the internet. Seriously..fuck them or at least feel sorry for them. Also, there's so much more people who appreciate the hard work you put into the videos and fans of yours know that life hasn't been easy on you. We are all glad that you're constantly providing quality content despite all of that, thank you!
There's an app, called bodyguard, you can connect to your RUclips account which is very efficient in deleting them before you read them. And also : ban assholes.
back listening again, i love your rambling, it’s interesting to hear an honest representation of what goes through your head, rather than a prepared talk.
Keep the “rambles” coming! I think you’re a phenomenal photographer and stellar educator and these videos could not have come at a better time. Thanks Mr. Soth!
Rambling from someone like you is not the same as your grandpa rambling drunk in xmas.. Please continue.. I love watching these videos in my TV and it's almost like a class to be honest.. and the HD is a plus..
Never in my lifetime have I seen a hint of a _'ramble'_ and pressed play so fast. Thank you for being you, Alec - and thank you for sharing some of that with us.
I'm not sure how I came across your videos, but i'm glad I did. I recently dropped out of my photography degree at art school due to structural flaws within my university but I never lost the yearning to learn. I feel my mind is having better conversations with the topics you bring forth than many lectures I sat in for. I'm on a fast track to watching everything you've uploaded. Thankyou for stimulating that within me again.
Those "rambling/not course" videos are the most helpful, mind-opening and teaching content. Just thank you so much for taking the time to make them and share knowledge and references.
Have really been enjoying these videos Alec. Personally I enjoy listening to your ramblings as I find them to be an insight into how you approach and view photography. They have all been inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to make them and look forward to seeing more!
Ah, coming so many years late to photography, I finally understood why people are skeptical about pictures and words! You probably know these, but here are two books that I think work great: 1) Chairs, by Shirley Burden, 2) The Red Ballin, by Albert Lamorisse. But to be, and in retrospective of a recent show with pictures and words (and not trying to promote myself), with a funny handwritten phrase below each of the photographs, at some point of that show, I felt jealous about the attention people were giving to the words, written by another author. People came for the photographs, but the words made a trick there, that glued them to the trees, while probably only a few looked at the forest, which was what I actually wanted to be seen. So, great subject, and great lesson for me. Thanks for the rambling, dear Alec.
For me what's groundbreaking about Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is that, while the words and images are separated in the book, the process was not. Agee and Evans were clearly influenced by each other's approach.
Not a slight, I actually like these “ramblings”. You’re very thoughtful with your commentary and it’s actually my favorite component to the video, seeing you draw connections across different artists is incredibly insightful and shouldn’t be devalued. Also, it’s your platform
This is brilliantly insightful. A couple of years ago I completed a book project I had worked on with a poet (off and on) for nine years. Although we both had a say in what went into the book, we found that when I made pictures to go with her words the pictures tended to be too literal. When we did it the other way around, her poetry went off in directions I hadn't imagined. It was as if my pictures limited her words, or rendered them unnecessary, but her words gave my pictures depth. An odd experience, but a great one.
After watching your Magnum class these are a real treat. I studying photography at university but my teachers do not cover things like this. I am learning so much, many thanks Alec.
Agreed with all the other comments... also know you weren’t seeking/fishing for praise when you mentioned the negative comment... but I enjoy this so much... the world moves so quickly and everything is jumbled up and no one seems to have time these days for a conversation.... it means a lot to me to just hear coherent full thoughts and discussion... thank you Alec...
Hi Alec, I've been watching your videos one by one, and I have to say it's anything but rambling. I'm actually learning a lot from your words. I am a novice photographer and your videos are making me grow a lot especially in the way of thinking. I just want to say thank you and I hope you continue to produce this amazing content.❤
Absolutely, ramble on. We are here to hear the thoughts and insights of an accomplished photographer. It is a bright spot in a dark sea of "concise" and boring videos about gear and rule of thirds. Please keep them coming and ignore the negative.
Thanks for starting this channel. You are my favorite photographer and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see you have a channel now. Also you are so subtly hilarious.
While scrolling through Instagram posts I find myself hoping that I will see another one from Alec Soth, announcing a new video. Your videos are such a gift. Thank you!
There a plenty of people out there (myself included) that would probably pay good money to just sit and listen to you talk about photography and your favourite photo books. The fact that you’re putting these videos out for free is amazing. Negative comments will always come. Especially on RUclips. But no matter how hard you try you can’t please everyone. People these days don’t have a lot of patience but it’s not their fault. It’s a condition of the world we live in. From watching these videos you’ve already inspired me for 2 future project ideas and for that I thank you. Keep doing what you’re doing.
I can't even tell how much I loved this video!! I'm currently writing a thesis on photobooks, focusing on the relationship between text and photographic narrative Thank you so so much for sharing
If you were to post your courses and lectures on RUclips, that would be cool - but these unscripted “rambling” talks feel like a 1:1 conversation with the professor, and that is so much better. Keep it up, these are amazing and so valuable. Thank you for doing this.
These are going to be a huge hit. Such insight, a great way of learning, a deep flow of knowledge. And ramdomness of books are just so cool, and your use of them, this is a must on any photographers to do list, told my lecturer about this series, loved the idea of it, I think it will be recommended as must view. Thank you for your time knowledge and eloquent way of teaching invaluable ideas, with beautiful ease
I second everyone else saying this “rambling” is why we’re here. I love these talks and particularly respond to them because of this sincere, unscripted (but still organized and thought out) style.
Also, I don’t have as much exposure to photo books as I would like but one text heavy book that I always come back to and which I personally find effective is Peter Brown’s “Season’s of Light”. Each two page spread is one photo on the left with a half to full page of text on the right which is basically a story or memory or anecdote relating to the photo. Like an illustrated journal. Maybe it’s due to the quality of the writing (which I liked obviously) but I find each piece of text elevates my experience of the accompanying photo rather than diminishing it. It’s the only photo-with-text book I have really enjoyed on an artistic level.
I went through my book and added quotes from the addicts themselves. It changed the feel of the book in a big way. Thanks for showing the DL book. Transitional photos are important.
I love your rambling! The combination of words and text is something I have been mulling for many years. I intend to find a satisfying way to bring my poems and my photographs together, but I'm still looking for a resolution. One way I think of how they might work together is the way a metaphor functions. That is, in a kind of mutual and complex exchange that isn't in any way descriptive. It creates an association rather than illustration. One of my dead mentors is Minor White, a photographer who also wrote poetry. In his photobook short poems are scattered throughout. But the question remains, who is the audience? Please, keep thinking out loud about this. Serendipitously, I was just reading an essay about Wright Morris and his struggle to commingle words and text. Thanks, Alec.
I am enjoying these ramblings very much. I wonder if you have in your collection Wright Morris's book "Photographs and Words." As I am sure you know, Morris was a wonderful photographer, largely of landscapes and interiors, who was also the author of many published novels, essays, short stories, memoirs, and a category he called "photo-text." "Photographs and Words" mostly follows the text-first-plates-following formula you pointed to in the Agee-Evans book. Some of his writing and many of the photographs---at least the ones I have seen--focus on autobiography and nostalgia, and go together in this sense. Anyway, this rambling made me pull that book from the bookcase--so thanks for that.
Thanks. Morris definitely could have been included here. I have a couple of his books, but not "Photographs and Words." Just bought a copy - thanks for the recommendation.
Listening to pretty much all of your videos while in the process of applying to a graduate photography program. Cant overstate how helpful and meditative they have been. Never stop making them.
Excellent analysis, ramble on, please! Interesting sidenote, Photonovels got me into experimenting with pictures and type, which made me become a typesetter and book designer, which lead to photography.
I truly love your way of showing the works that inspire you and I hope you'll never stop uploading these videos. BUT, if you'll start doing also some good night stories video I think I could solve my insomnia problems. Just joking, I find your way of talking super relaxing.
A thought-provoking series, far above normal RUclipsrs. Looking forward to your « chats ». You bring a lifetime of experience to this series. Photography books require a design sensibility [refined/crude]. Words can indeed be an integral part of photographic images: Barbara Kruger « I shop therefore I am ». Typography matters. Words can be handwritten: « The Portraits of Duane Michals » . Poems can accompany images: Duane Michals « Homage to Cavafy » complete poems by Constantine Cavafy with images evoking that sensibility with fragments for « captions ».
Excellent reflections on the subject. Your talk reminds me of an essay that you might already know by John Tagg, "Melancholy Realism: Walker Evans's Resistance to Meaning," in Tagg's book "The Disciplinary Frame". It compares Bourke-White to Walker Evans, discusses the effort to wed Evans' FSA photos to words in Archibald MacLeish's book "Land of the Free" and concludes by with a discussion of "American Pictures" in the context of this other work. There are some interesting reflections on the relationship between words and pictures and the differences between Bourke-White's "propagandistic" photos and those of Evans.
*Exactly* the right amount of rambling. Perfect. Do you take requests? Can you talk about Robert Frank? The Americans, of course. But I'd like to hear what you think of other works, Household Inventory Record for example.
This was great! If you do this again I’d love to hear your thoughts, sometime, about the Hiroshi Watanabe _Kwaidan_ book. Thanks so much for these videos, they are immensely enjoyable.
I think it’s fair to say that most of us are here for the rambling. Cheers
I’ve been making videos about photography here on RUclips for almost 7 years at this point and the negative comments can still get to me. Just know that what you’re doing here is a breath of fresh air and there are so many of us that really appreciate it.
Matt, always have in mind that the people giving negative comments are that desperate that they are actually spending their time hating strangers on the internet. Seriously..fuck them or at least feel sorry for them. Also, there's so much more people who appreciate the hard work you put into the videos and fans of yours know that life hasn't been easy on you. We are all glad that you're constantly providing quality content despite all of that, thank you!
so dope to see you here Matt!
hear! hear!
There's an app, called bodyguard, you can connect to your RUclips account which is very efficient in deleting them before you read them. And also : ban assholes.
This ‘rambling’ in its analysis is better than most my art classes in uni. I’m thankful for this unexpected journey.
completely and entirely agree
Yes!!
This channel is an incredible gift. Thank you Alec
back listening again, i love your rambling, it’s interesting to hear an honest representation of what goes through your head, rather than a prepared talk.
Thanks for inviting me to "ramble", stutter through, muse, observe, with you through your library...you are one of the best teachers I've ever had...
your presence on this platform is unparalleled. so thankful for these intimate, insightful videos.
We want the rambling Alec! This is what actual conversations about photography sound like. Don’t stop.
I'll listen to you ramble all day and night, mate, and I am very grateful for the videos and all the work you put out.
Keep the “rambles” coming! I think you’re a phenomenal photographer and stellar educator and these videos could not have come at a better time. Thanks Mr. Soth!
This is precisely the sort and amount of rambling I enjoy. Thank you.
Rambling from someone like you is not the same as your grandpa rambling drunk in xmas..
Please continue.. I love watching these videos in my TV and it's almost like a class to be honest.. and the HD is a plus..
I can’t believe I get to watch these for free. Thank you so much!!!
Ramble on mr Soth, your videos are so good, and if you are genuinely interested in photography your videos are a must watch
Never in my lifetime have I seen a hint of a _'ramble'_ and pressed play so fast. Thank you for being you, Alec - and thank you for sharing some of that with us.
I love how he is just zooming with himself
hahaha :) I do too :)
I'm not sure how I came across your videos, but i'm glad I did. I recently dropped out of my photography degree at art school due to structural flaws within my university but I never lost the yearning to learn. I feel my mind is having better conversations with the topics you bring forth than many lectures I sat in for. I'm on a fast track to watching everything you've uploaded. Thankyou for stimulating that within me again.
Those "rambling/not course" videos are the most helpful, mind-opening and teaching content. Just thank you so much for taking the time to make them and share knowledge and references.
50 seconds in and I already love it. Please keep rambling! ♥️
Lord you were born a ramblin' man, Alec! And we LOVE it! Ramble on!
NOT TOO MUCH RAMBLING. Keep doing what you're doing. truly enjoy these videos.
Have really been enjoying these videos Alec. Personally I enjoy listening to your ramblings as I find them to be an insight into how you approach and view photography. They have all been inspiring. Thank you for taking the time to make them and look forward to seeing more!
Ah, coming so many years late to photography, I finally understood why people are skeptical about pictures and words! You probably know these, but here are two books that I think work great: 1) Chairs, by Shirley Burden, 2) The Red Ballin, by Albert Lamorisse. But to be, and in retrospective of a recent show with pictures and words (and not trying to promote myself), with a funny handwritten phrase below each of the photographs, at some point of that show, I felt jealous about the attention people were giving to the words, written by another author. People came for the photographs, but the words made a trick there, that glued them to the trees, while probably only a few looked at the forest, which was what I actually wanted to be seen. So, great subject, and great lesson for me. Thanks for the rambling, dear Alec.
For me what's groundbreaking about Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is that, while the words and images are separated in the book, the process was not. Agee and Evans were clearly influenced by each other's approach.
Yes. How do you feel about "Cotton Tenants" Ginger?
Not a slight, I actually like these “ramblings”. You’re very thoughtful with your commentary and it’s actually my favorite component to the video, seeing you draw connections across different artists is incredibly insightful and shouldn’t be devalued.
Also, it’s your platform
This is brilliantly insightful. A couple of years ago I completed a book project I had worked on with a poet (off and on) for nine years. Although we both had a say in what went into the book, we found that when I made pictures to go with her words the pictures tended to be too literal. When we did it the other way around, her poetry went off in directions I hadn't imagined. It was as if my pictures limited her words, or rendered them unnecessary, but her words gave my pictures depth. An odd experience, but a great one.
What a breath of fresh air on a platform which is becoming increasingly noisy. I look forward to your meditations on imagery. Thank you!
So thankful for these amazing videos and ramblings, Alec.
Thank you sooooo much for this. I've been having the same battle for the last 10 years.
After watching your Magnum class these are a real treat. I studying photography at university but my teachers do not cover things like this. I am learning so much, many thanks Alec.
Rambling is what I need. Thank you.
Agreed with all the other comments... also know you weren’t seeking/fishing for praise when you mentioned the negative comment... but I enjoy this so much... the world moves so quickly and everything is jumbled up and no one seems to have time these days for a conversation.... it means a lot to me to just hear coherent full thoughts and discussion... thank you Alec...
Hi Alec, I've been watching your videos one by one, and I have to say it's anything but rambling. I'm actually learning a lot from your words. I am a novice photographer and your videos are making me grow a lot especially in the way of thinking. I just want to say thank you and I hope you continue to produce this amazing content.❤
RUclips NEEDS these kinds of videos.
I hear a symphony in the ramblings. Thank you for doing these sessions.
You're a fantastic educator, I'd listen to you speak on photography every day. Thanks for the content
Thank you for your time and insight 🙏🙏
Awesome. Such a gift to find your talks on youtube! Many thanks.
Absolutely, ramble on. We are here to hear the thoughts and insights of an accomplished photographer. It is a bright spot in a dark sea of "concise" and boring videos about gear and rule of thirds.
Please keep them coming and ignore the negative.
Many thanks, Alec - really enjoying the casual intimacy of your videos.
Thanks for starting this channel. You are my favorite photographer and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see you have a channel now. Also you are so subtly hilarious.
Thanks again! You are amazing in your rambling through the books and the history of photography
Ramble on Alec, I (and I'm sure many others) love every moment of it
While scrolling through Instagram posts I find myself hoping that I will see another one from Alec Soth, announcing a new video. Your videos are such a gift. Thank you!
Keep rambling on, it's very much appreciated!
There a plenty of people out there (myself included) that would probably pay good money to just sit and listen to you talk about photography and your favourite photo books. The fact that you’re putting these videos out for free is amazing.
Negative comments will always come. Especially on RUclips. But no matter how hard you try you can’t please everyone. People these days don’t have a lot of patience but it’s not their fault. It’s a condition of the world we live in.
From watching these videos you’ve already inspired me for 2 future project ideas and for that I thank you. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Fantastic video. Thank you for sharing your collection and insight with us. It's much appreciated.
Your videos make my day a joy. Thank you for your time and rambling.
Never read the comments, not even this one. The videos are great, keep doing it the way you want.
Thank you, great to see pictures in their original context.
Lovely insights. The ideas around children’s books and photography are super interesting
I can't even tell how much I loved this video!!
I'm currently writing a thesis on photobooks, focusing on the relationship between text and photographic narrative
Thank you so so much for sharing
These are becoming must watch for any photographer who has a love of the craft. The Lange book was fascinating
THE RAMBLING IS GREAT DONT STOP FELLOW ALEC
Damn, so good. Just for the record, I was ready for about two more hours of show and tell. Ramble on, please!
I love this format. Thank you for taking the time to make these videos. Please do more if you have time. Cheers,
Benjamin
If you were to post your courses and lectures on RUclips, that would be cool - but these unscripted “rambling” talks feel like a 1:1 conversation with the professor, and that is so much better. Keep it up, these are amazing and so valuable. Thank you for doing this.
These are going to be a huge hit. Such insight, a great way of learning, a deep flow of knowledge. And ramdomness of books are just so cool, and your use of them, this is a must on any photographers to do list, told my lecturer about this series, loved the idea of it, I think it will be recommended as must view. Thank you for your time knowledge and eloquent way of teaching invaluable ideas, with beautiful ease
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in! L. Cohen
Thank you, Alec Soth, ramble on! 🙂
Thank you for everything you share. Your rambling is my MFA.
"Once" by Wim Wenders does a great job at combining pictures and words, definitely an all-time favorite of mine.
Love that book
I second everyone else saying this “rambling” is why we’re here. I love these talks and particularly respond to them because of this sincere, unscripted (but still organized and thought out) style.
Also, I don’t have as much exposure to photo books as I would like but one text heavy book that I always come back to and which I personally find effective is Peter Brown’s “Season’s of Light”. Each two page spread is one photo on the left with a half to full page of text on the right which is basically a story or memory or anecdote relating to the photo. Like an illustrated journal. Maybe it’s due to the quality of the writing (which I liked obviously) but I find each piece of text elevates my experience of the accompanying photo rather than diminishing it. It’s the only photo-with-text book I have really enjoyed on an artistic level.
Thanks Jeff. I wasn't familiar with that book.
I went through my book and added quotes from the addicts themselves. It changed the feel of the book in a big way. Thanks for showing the DL book. Transitional photos are important.
!!!! Another youtube video?! I’m so excited.
Alec I greatly appreciate your videos and analysis, I feel that it has helped me to better analyze images myself.
Love the videos, Alec. Amazing.
Brilliant, thank you. Also worth mentioning the collaboration of John Berger and Jean Mohr, particularly The Country Doctor and The Seventh Man.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It's great to have an opporunity to get a glimpse of your book collection. Please continue.
One book that I think really works using words with pictures is Sophie Calle's 'Exquisite Pain '. Loving the content Alec.
Sophie Calle is someone I plan to discuss in the future
Alec Soth please do !!! In a rambling kinda way ! ❤️😂
Thank you for posting and an opportunity to look inside of these books, valuable content.
Here for the rambling. Great way to start my weekend and very informative, more things to look out for when digesting photography books.
“Did this book work for kids? Uh... I have no idea. But it’s working for me. “
please please dont stop making videos man. this is such powerful and important brain food.
I love rambling with you in your garden and pick those little brown mushrooms. Please don’t change a thing.
LBM's...yes!
W.G. Sebald, not a photographer but a writer that was using photos in his books
Love sebald
I love your rambling! The combination of words and text is something I have been mulling for many years. I intend to find a satisfying way to bring my poems and my photographs together, but I'm still looking for a resolution. One way I think of how they might work together is the way a metaphor functions. That is, in a kind of mutual and complex exchange that isn't in any way descriptive. It creates an association rather than illustration. One of my dead mentors is Minor White, a photographer who also wrote poetry. In his photobook short poems are scattered throughout. But the question remains, who is the audience? Please, keep thinking out loud about this. Serendipitously, I was just reading an essay about Wright Morris and his struggle to commingle words and text. Thanks, Alec.
Thank you. I wish I'd mentioned Wright Morris in this video.
love your wit and humor -- "it's like if Walker Evans produced a children's book"
I look forward for each one of your videos Alec. Its so informative. A fan from Dubai
I am enjoying these ramblings very much. I wonder if you have in your collection Wright Morris's book "Photographs and Words." As I am sure you know, Morris was a wonderful photographer, largely of landscapes and interiors, who was also the author of many published novels, essays, short stories, memoirs, and a category he called "photo-text." "Photographs and Words" mostly follows the text-first-plates-following formula you pointed to in the Agee-Evans book. Some of his writing and many of the photographs---at least the ones I have seen--focus on autobiography and nostalgia, and go together in this sense. Anyway, this rambling made me pull that book from the bookcase--so thanks for that.
Thanks. Morris definitely could have been included here. I have a couple of his books, but not "Photographs and Words." Just bought a copy - thanks for the recommendation.
Listening to pretty much all of your videos while in the process of applying to a graduate photography program. Cant overstate how helpful and meditative they have been. Never stop making them.
Thanks Dawson. Good luck with the applications
Forget the negatives comments (who cares ?). Keep going, your work is amazing Alec. You're doing a fucking great job here.
This is so valuable and appreciated. Please don't pay attention to bitter people :)
Thanks for these talks. I hope you have a nice weekend. Cheers from Portugal!
.
Love your video. It's not too serious but full of inspiring thought. Just like hearing a wise friend sharing his story.
These are great! Thanks so much!
Excellent analysis, ramble on, please! Interesting sidenote, Photonovels got me into experimenting with pictures and type, which made me become a typesetter and book designer, which lead to photography.
Rambling is good Alec. It’s chilled. Crack on 🙏
I truly love your way of showing the works that inspire you and I hope you'll never stop uploading these videos.
BUT, if you'll start doing also some good night stories video I think I could solve my insomnia problems. Just joking,
I find your way of talking super relaxing.
This is very helpful to me as I'm putting together my first book that includes photos and words. I look forward to hearing more on this topic from you
Really enjoyed this. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing ! You are great !
Great video! You picked very good examples. I would be thrilled if you would do a lecture because I also loved your Magnum course.
KEEP RUMBLING Alec. Great work, at least for me (not that this matters). Thanks for committing your time, much appreciated!
A thought-provoking series, far above normal RUclipsrs. Looking forward to your « chats ». You bring a lifetime of experience to this series. Photography books require a design sensibility [refined/crude]. Words can indeed be an integral part of photographic images: Barbara Kruger « I shop therefore I am ». Typography matters. Words can be handwritten: « The Portraits of Duane Michals » . Poems can accompany images: Duane Michals « Homage to Cavafy » complete poems by Constantine Cavafy with images evoking that sensibility with fragments for « captions ».
Excellent reflections on the subject. Your talk reminds me of an essay that you might already know by John Tagg, "Melancholy Realism: Walker Evans's Resistance to Meaning," in Tagg's book "The Disciplinary Frame". It compares Bourke-White to Walker Evans, discusses the effort to wed Evans' FSA photos to words in Archibald MacLeish's book "Land of the Free" and concludes by with a discussion of "American Pictures" in the context of this other work. There are some interesting reflections on the relationship between words and pictures and the differences between Bourke-White's "propagandistic" photos and those of Evans.
Thank you. Not familiar, will look it up.
thanks for giving us free knowledge, it's really really helpful. ❤️❤️❤️
Brilliant.🙏👏 Looking forward to receiving my copy of the new Walker Evans book by Alpers.
I need to get that too.
Amazing work! It teaches and inspires me a lot!
*Exactly* the right amount of rambling. Perfect. Do you take requests? Can you talk about Robert Frank? The Americans, of course. But I'd like to hear what you think of other works, Household Inventory Record for example.
Thanks, I'm sure I'll eventually talk about RF
This was great! If you do this again I’d love to hear your thoughts, sometime, about the Hiroshi Watanabe _Kwaidan_ book. Thanks so much for these videos, they are immensely enjoyable.
Wish I had it!