275 thoughts on “workshop show and fiesta”

  3. a civilian-mass audience

    I will be there…I am bringing ouzo
    and
    all my BURNIANS will be there…
    cause
    the BURNING Spirit is everywhere!

    Daring + Artistic + Hellacious* = DAH !!!

    *I am ESL student and dyslexic.
    VIVA BURN…

  7. Akaky

    PARTY!!!!PARTY!!!PARTY!!!

    AKAKY IRL: Why are you getting all worked up? You’re not going.

    AKAKY: I know, but it’s the principle of the thing.

    AKAKY IRL: I see.

    AKAKY: You do?

    AKAKY IRL: Not really.

    AKAKY: I thought that’s what you were going to say.

  10. Sam Harris

    same here… i always feel far far away when there’s action at the kibbutz…

    a live feed would be awesome… there must be an NY Burnian that could pull it off??

  15. eva

    ARGH! So I said I wanted to see Anderson’s show, mostly.. forget it.. I wanna see all.. now wish you hadn’t posted pictures, just makes it harder to sit over here.. yeah, I know, I did ask for it.. hope there’s more to come!

  20. Paul

    “The megalithic building known as the Kibutz in New York ranks among the world’s most iconic photography sites and inspires awe and fascination among an obscure society known as Burnians. The building has spawned countless tales and photographic theories. According to folklore, the Kibbutz was created by DAH, the Shaman of Burn legend, who magically transported and assembled the crème de la crème in the world of photography whilst his alumni were instructed in the secrets of real photography.
    We have all felt these energies (we might also call them vibrations or presences) that emanate from and surround people according to their internal experiences and so pilgrimage shrines like the Kibbutz, because of the large number of people learning and meditating at them, have become highly charged with these vibrations of peace and devotion. These vibrations have a lasting effect in a physical space and sacred sites thus become memory banks, naturally this field of power is further amplified during major festivals held there. Many pilgrimage centers that draw visitors throughout the year celebrate certain days, or periods of days, as being particularly auspicious. In particular the Kibbutz festivals usually occur in September over a period of days culminating in a frenzy of celebration on a Friday night…

  21. a civilian-mass audience

    I love pennies…
    cause with a penny you can open a beer…therefore there is no need for c(r)ock…

    can I sing now?

  22. a civilian-mass audience

    oh,well…here i am:

    sing with me BURNIANS…

    Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
    Of every head he’s had the pleasure to have known
    And all the people that come and go
    Stop and say hello

    tralalla…oh,ohhhh,ooooo

    Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
    There beneath the blue suburban skies
    I sit, and meanwhile back

    ooo…na,naaaa,naaaanna,naa,na

  32. Jeff Hladun

    Paul, addendum:

    Dateline: Museum of Modern Art, new York, New York
    Sept. 30, 2021

    “Folks, if you could just move in closer, we at MOMA are proud to present our newest acquisitions, Bob Dylan’s unauthorized re-creation of Bruce Gilden’s Yakuza Portrait, alongside Gilden’s original photograph. Please note that the damage on the Dylan painting remains unrepaired from that fateful night exactly a decade ago, when as legend has it, and as the noted author Paul Parker in his “Intellectual Property Rights’s of Modern Art Photographers” wrote, Gilden led the famed Kibbutz work shoppers to the now defunct Gagosian Gallery, where, in an act of anarchy reminiscent of the French Situationists during the May 1968 riots in Paris, students of David Alan Harvey vandalized those paintings of Dylan’s bearing unacknowledged provence. Apparently the cuts were made by a negative film cutter found later on the 6th floor, just outside the door of the Kibbutz. In the years since, photographic authorship – both as an essential artistic style and a source of control over artistic endeavours – has been realized to its present form, thanks to that night.

    As you all know, Dylan is currently in a state where even he doesn’t understand his mutterings; Gilden is cursed with such recognition that now everyone smiles for his camera; Harvey has removed himself from the Kibbutz, and has remade himself into a comic book writer, who’s “Orville and Wilbur – Road Trips from the Outer Banks to the Inner Mind” continues to entertain.

    Any questions? Right, then if you will just follow me to the adjacent hall, you will be able to view our most recent installation, the historically accurate reproduction of the famed “Burn-ed Garden” Collection. We are so happy Vissaria Skoulidas has agreed to curate this effort; you must know…….” (fade)

  33. a civilian-mass audience

    oime…oime…oime…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    damnit…speechless…oime

    MICHAELK…hey,mate…
    “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”
    Eleanor Roosevelt

    now,I will have a …print .~~~Thank YOU~~~

    your civi
    “the fighter”

  34. a civilian-mass audience

    JEFF…

    what the heck are you smoking…?:))))))))))

    damnit,YOU are ALL crazy here…I am going out…

    sending burbs and farts from beautiful Grecolandia…and yes,I am gonna say it again…

    I DO,I DO love you all…oime,you crazy BURNIANS!

  35. tanguy

    Paul,
    Not sure you saw my answer to your post (“You lucky devil…”), but, yeah, tonight will be cool! Great place to see, feel, talk, relax, meet and have some laughs!
    Great time for sure (my girl hopes she’ll have another cool talk with James N.), but it’ll probably be even crazier this time around since so many peeps might show up (Burnians and not)…
    Not to worry though, you’ll have a taste of it: Erica will ‘scribble in the dark’, photos will be uploaded for all to see, and the stories of the night will be told (the crowd, the shows, the rooftop, the fun…)!

    DAH will be ‘unapproachable’, surrounded as a good host should, but be sure you’ll have a taste of it all!

  36. Paul

    One of the biggest controversies among art come photography historians has been the very debatable subject of were psychoactive plants substances used among the alumni at the Kibbutz? Anthropological, ethnopharmacological and historical research has shown that the traditional purpose of such psychoactive plant use was to attain direct spiritual experience, during which users made contact with different spirits and unseen realms in order to gain knowledge and wisdom for themselves and/or members of their social group. Scientists studying aboriginal cultures with shamanic traditions have conclusively demonstrated that hallucinogenic substances were frequently used as an adjunct to the shamans’ inner quest for vision and the search for healing. Where would the religious use of these substances have taken place? A wealth of archaeological evidence supports the theory that the Kibbutz rooftop was theoretically the perfect place for the consumption of sacramental beverages and psychoactive plants.

  37. Sidney Atkins

    Hey PAUL,

    If you are going to promote personality cults and indulge in mythmaking around 475 Kent Ave., then at least get your mytho-history straight. There was a scene of famous photographers and other artists with outrageous lifestyles living in the so-called Kibbutz long before David Alan Harvey was a resident… that was what attracted HIM there. He no doubt upped the energy and craziness level by moving in, but he did not create the scene there. The childish hero-worshipping that gets bandied about here sometimes is embarrassing enough without doing violence to the facts.

  38. Paul

    During the course of the yearly cycle various Burn tribes would make journeys, called fiestas, returning year after year to the same traditional routes. Skilled topographical surveys have discovered Paris, OBX, Rio, Washington DC and Mexico as some of the most popular routes and above all NY and the Kibbutz as the centre of the Burnian culture.

  39. mw

    Sorry to break the flow, but I just love Mr. Fish, and this is just great. And thanks, Sidney. And hey, did someone say there’s a party tonight? What’s up with that? You know what always bothers me about these things? Everyone marvels at the view, but they always looks to the shiny things in the west when in this rare case most of the interesting stuff is to the south and east and north. And in the same vein, I really, really love seeing the student work. The stuff David gets out of them is truly fantastic.

  40. Akaky

    AKAKY: A psychoactive plant?

    AKAKY IRL: Yeah. It’s a plant that scored higher than you on the SATs.

    AKAKY: I never took the SATs.

    AKAKY IRL: I rest my case.

    AKAKY: Assuming you had one in the first place.

  41. Paul

    Sidney…

    I’m sorry if my comments have offended you, it’s just my freakish mind at play. So please don’t take it too seriously…
    Just me wishing you and I plus all the other Burnian family who are not present at the party could meet up one day and have the best of time all together.

  44. a civilian-mass audience

    FROSTFROGY…rock on…civi says hi too…Hi!

    “You lucky devil”…as TANGUY says…”your footprint arrived”…as PANOS says.
    hope you have BURNING times there…with all MY other BURNIANS.

    now,”I rest my case”…as AKAKY says:)))

    loukoumades,tiganites,croissants , cinnamon fluffy cake with oranges and chocolate…blah,blah,dream on…
    just plain coffee…
    yo,yoho…the civi’s life for me

    Goodmorning …rooster is calling(skype)?:))))))))))))))))))))

  45. a civilian-mass audience

    BURNIANS in the KIBBUTZ area…only this I have to say:

    BURN …the floor
    ok,I am gonna sing now…

  48. david alan harvey

    SIDNEY

    i think you need to make a trip to 475 Kent…to the best of my knowledge you have not yet graced our halls , but i personally would love for you to experience the “buzz” of 475….you would be a most welcomed guest…but for sure “crazy lifestyle” is not what i think an apt description of what goes on here at 475..

    surely, even though Bohemian by nature, the output of the artistic talent that is in fact in this building is certainly not the party scene nor the view, which do become sometimes over described , but in fact real work by real people in real time..

    yes we had a nice social gathering last night in honor of fine work produced by 12 students who certainly were not here for a party and two iconic photographers (Gilden and Anderson) who took their time to pay respect to these student photographers…so that my friend is WHY we are here…

    it would certainly be very strange i think to denigrate any joyful meeting of our collective positive spirit particularly when the REASON for gathering in the first place is the respectful showing of work…

    any gathering/viewing over which i have any say, THERE IS NO PARTY GOING ON WHEN WORK IS BEING SHOWN..last night, as always, the door is locked at 9pm sharp…if you have a beer in hour hand at this point great, but if you do not , you are not going to move to get another…

    you can hear a pin drop in the kibbutz when work is being shown under my auspices and in my apartment by the iconic photographers and even more so for the students…

    last night for sure could only be described as a very emotional presentation of heartfelt work by students who were charged to dig deep…was there a party after? well, yes a lot of folks did enjoy chatting, having another beer, going to the roof etc etc…but i doubt anyone would describe it as representing a “crazy lifestyle”…please get a second opinion….

    it was more the big warm Sidney…the big warm….there is not one doubt in my mind that if you were actually here, that this is how you would describe…no heroes…no claims….just that terrific gut feeling when the right things happen for the right reasons…i am sure you DO understand…please come next time and see for yourself…

    cheers, david

  49. michael kircher

    Paul…

    I think your two pieces of writing above should be accompanied by the various casual imagery from the Kibbutz from over the years. A perfectly fitting bit of creative prose there.

    Cheers.

  51. emcd

    lovely lovely night. thank you DAH for the open hearted kindnesses of welcoming everyone in to see the work produced over the past week and for the chance to make new friends and see old ones. I have to say that the mi casa es su casa thing has taken on a new depth of meaning as the years have passed and now when I walk into a fiesta it is a bit like ‘old home week’ – okay, no nostalgia! looking forward to next week’s wonders and please do let me know when (if) you still want me to present work so I can arrange my schedule.

    I met frostfrog!

  54. Gordon Lafleur

    A big week, big party full of photographers, umm, didn’t anyone make any photographs?…waiting

    meanwhile I’m home nursing my poor sick wife (food poisoning)

  57. emcd

    Gordon – get her some deactivated charcoal pills – they work wonders. Miracles really.

    Michael, I was thinking the same! I need a visual of you. Photo anywhere?

  62. Akaky

    So this whole thing didn’t disintegrate from a Dioynisian photographic bacchanal to a wild drunken orgy that only ended when the cops raided the place and sent everyone to the slammer for the evening to sleep it off? That’s a bit of a disappointment, isn’t it? I thought you people were Democrats.

  63. dellicson

    One other thought:

    I found it interesting that Bruce Gilden at the end questioned the point of photography workshops which I found amusing since he was presenting work at a colleague’s workshop. But, it is true that at the end of the day one does need to go off and do long-term projects on one’s own. The only issue is that most photographers are not at the Magnum level innately and so doing a workshop or two can help along the way to get you or keep you on course. Some young photographers even shell out $70,000 for a two year MFA. What you are paying for with a graduate degree is not just weekly critique sessions but a passport to the NYC art world, gallery representation and connections. The simple fact is that not everyone can be a Bruce Gilden or Christopher Anderson. Sometimes the ironclad shell of the photo world can be tough to crack on one’s own. I have always heard great things about Harvey’s workshops.

  70. eva

    Regarding Bruce Gilden questioning the purpose of workshops it would be interesting to learn from him what he thinks they can be good for, since, if I’m not completely wrong, he teaches them too? Would be disappointing to hear it’s not just a money making job.. but since I was not there and have only read dellicson’s comment perhaps I don’t understand what Mr. Gilden meant with it.

    Seems obvious that a workshop will not make you a Magnum photographer, nor that it should, nor that the students want this.. but it seems also obvious, that a high level workshop (like the one we’re talking about) can give you the needed push to go forward, forward on the path of whatever your reason is for being a photographer..

    I don’t know how hard it is to knack the shell.. frankly I think if you have IT, and if you work hard, day after day, there’s not much knacking needed, doors will open.. but you gotta have a point of view, and, as said so many times by DAH, you gotta have something to say.

  72. david alan harvey

    DAVIN…EVA…

    i am behind in all comments, but i did see recent ones by each of you referring to Gilden critique of workshops…

    just to set the record totally straight, Gilden, firing from the hip as usual, criticized people who take “too many workshops”… not workshops straight up…as you point out , Bruce teaches workshops himself…i did a Magnum workshop with him in Toronto earlier this year…i think there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the right catalyst at the right time just might spark a photographer into great action..i have seen it many many times..i have also seen some take a workshop and it did no good whatsoever…it is of course silly to criticize any kind of education program in and of itself just because some get something out of it and some do not…

    Bruce’s point was i am sure , and i would agree with him totally, is that photographers just need to go to work…the digital age has brought so so many new ideas, incredible ways of working, and allowed for unprecedented distribution of new works on the internet for example, and yet has also brought us dozens of photographers uneducated in the techniques of basic photography, no knowledge of the history, etc etc and yet somehow, oddly, presume themselves to be “ready” to publish a book or take a magazine assignment..

    those of us who teach, always scratch our heads on that one…but honestly , it is not anybody’s fault..many come into photography these days sort of “sideways”…new camera out of the box, works just fine right away, pics clear , sharp and properly exposed, and then straight to a flickr group or something and bypassing totally any basic camera knowledge or sense of who has done what and who is doing what and well just a basic education…so mentors and teachers today must just deal with this…while my primary goal is to get photographers thinking about authorship , i must also now realize that along with getting them on to the right project, i must also give them the right reading list..so they may know something of the world they are in, so they may best prepare themselves to be in it…

    for Bruce this is frustrating…for me too, yet i have learned how to deal with it and understand that it is not just a whole generation of “lazy photographers” as some elders may suspect, but just a byproduct of how young people get into photography in the first place..it is no longer a straight line of knowledge as in years past where anyone who wanted to be a photographer had no choice but to learn the basics of tech and history from the ground up so to speak.. ..

    the downside of education from Bruce’ perspective is now dozens or hundreds of photographers who somehow are looking for “shortcuts to success” and a workshop cannot be a “shortcut”..no matter how good the workshop , it does not absolve one from just simply doing it…which is of course my main “lesson”

    Bruce sees, and we all see, some photographers who feel that if they rub up against enough mojo, that they too will automatically “have it” and of course we all know this to not be the case…

    workshops , at their best, should be simply a key or touchstone…nothing more than this…and nothing less than this either…

    and on this point, wouldn’t it be way wiser to talk or listen to someone who actually took the class? or, see the work actually produced?

    focusing on a Gilden fire a volley for effect comment may not be the best way to pass judgement….

    cheers, david

  73. Paul

    Eva…

    CONFORT ZONES, it’s probably down to working to a very, very tough brief, if one was back at home one would probably find a good excuse to put the camera down and try our usual images. I bet the workshop participants suffered just as much as they enjoyed the whole experience. The homework probably forces one to be exposed and of course go further than one would usually and that opens your eyes and shows where your real strength and talent stands. So once a workshop is finished, if one doesn’t keep on in the same tough and extremely selective process and you relax and return to your old usual rhythm and happy comfort zone the workshop will be utterly useless.
    Maybe this was what Gilden was trying to point out…

  75. eva

    David.. Paul..

    I didn’t question the value of workshops, it only struck me as kinda weird that someone who teaches them would make such a statement.. good to hear how it was meant, and agree with the statement put in this context.. always dangerous to just take one sentence without the whole bit..

    Paul.. yes.. but there to me comes a difference between a photographer beibg serious about her/himself or just wanting to be called photographer.. if you’re serious, as in all profesdions, you gotta be critical eith what you do and how you do it.. for the world there is no change if you just sit and dwell, the only change of working at oneself is YOURSELF!

    David, quite frankly, I don’t know how and where you even find the time and energy to be here right now!

  77. eva

    Imants.. or can give you back the pure joy of expressing yourself.. depends on who leads the workshop, crucial I think..

  78. Paul

    A workshop may bring about a loss in the romanticism which draws many to the world of photography. So yes maybe a loss of innocence. But I also agree with Eva the joy of expression and seeing once again the world like children.

  79. Paul

    I’m also convinced you don’t realize how much you’ve learnt in one of these workshops till way after it’s finished. Maybe six months later your subconscious and the concious side of your brain go click and AHA!!

  80. david alan harvey

    EVA…

    well, again, the “such a statement” was not properly reported..what was written that Bruce said is not exactly what Bruce said..so pretty hard to have a discussion on an erroneous comment..we are all saying “what Bruce probably meant”…again what he actually said was only about “taking too many workshops”…referring to students who jump from one to another to another to another hoping that this will somehow make them better..

    i have today off…so i will have no problem gearing up for meeting a new group tomorrow evening….teaching back to back classes is the best way to save my energy and to capitalize on me in the right frame of mind…i am in intense teaching mode..my mind only on this…

    IMANTS

    loss of innocence could lead to a workshop

    cheers, david

  81. mw

    Sorry I’m a bit late to the after party. The show and the party were both excellent and David was a wonderful ringmaster and host. Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to get a spot where I would actually be able to see Chris Andersen’s slideshow, and I was melting, so I missed much of that and almost all of Guilden’s. I’d seen much of what Chris showed before, but it seemed that he showed a lot more of his new family work so I was sorry to miss that. He gives a wonderful presentation. I just caught the end of Guilden’s show. By that time the crowd had thinned a bit (or maybe they had become puddles) and I could see the screen and got some idea of what I had missed. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I had a few interesting conversations in the hall and on the roof where a fantastic rain was just beginning. And I wouldn’t say no matter, but not so much since much of their work is available elsewhere and it was the student work I was most interested in seeing. I always marvel at the quality of work David manages to get out of them. Yes, I know, they are good going in or they wouldn’t get by the portfolio review, but having witnessed a few days of a workshop last year, I see that they take it to another level during that week.

    They were all good, but there were a couple I really enjoyed. Frostfrog’s was like one of his roundabout comments or blog entries, only told in photographs with a voiceover, both funny and somehow meaningful at the same time. The last was a positive story about African American fathers who are there for their children. It was powerful stuff that entirely changed the mood of the room and ended in an emotional round of hugs between David and the other participants, something which I’m told had never happened before. That’s a bit surprising because I think the workshops participants always form a bond amongst themselves and that kind of acknowledgment of the bond and release seems perfectly natural. I hate to pick out just two, but those did standout. The others I liked in the way I like walking around photos. It’s always interesting to see what people come up with when they go walking around New York, much more so when they are guided by David.

    I enjoyed the party very much as well. I’ve been to several of these things now and there is something like a family vibe with the burnians, some of whom I’ve met before, others meeting for the first time. It was great to chat with Bill and Michael Kircher and Preston and Kerri and Ruckus and others and David and I met lots of new people as well, many who were just there either for the famous photographers or just for the party. That’s the nature of these things.

    Maybe it was because of the rain, but I was only in a half social mood and spent much of the time sitting up on the roof in the rain looking at the shiny lights to the west. It was a glorious feeling. The rain was perfect. Not cold, not hard, falling straight down. Altogether a sensation I love but don’t get to experience too often, especially not in that kind of head space. And occasionally strangers would come and join me under my umbrella for little chats. It was a very nice evening all around.

    I missed Guilden’s quip about workshops, but can understand how, as David amplifies, that one could take too many and for the wrong reasons. But from what I’ve seen, I don’t see how just about anyone couldn’t get great benefit from one of David’s. Being subjected to the great expectations of a top professional and excellent teacher and then having him give you the tools to succeed is a rare gift. And then all that goes with it — the city, the loft scene, the camaraderie, the special visitors, the party — what’s not to love? Of course (to paraphrase Roy Scheider in All that Jazz), it probably won’t make you a great photographer, it may not even make you a good photographer, but it will definitely make you a better photographer. A workshop can give us some fine tools, but to make fine stuff, one will always have to work with them.

  82. michael kircher

    Sorry Erica. I just checked. Apparently you need to be on “instagram” or “Inkstagram” to see them. Kind of dumb, really. Oh well.

    The first I linked to was David’s twitter instagram photo of me hanging off the roof (you can see it in his twitter feed above.)

    Here’s the second, on the roof of the Kibbutz, by Kurt Lengfield.
    http://www.michaelkircher.com/mkpic.htm

    Now, how about you?

  83. michael kircher

    MW, Frostfrog, Kurt and young Sarah, Michelle and Kerry (Carey? Kari? apologies)…

    Very cool meeting all of you. Sorry I missed Erica and Davin and any other Burnians. Next time perhaps? Maybe in OBX? Shall we crash David’s place someday? ;^}

    Also, Zun, Andy and Edite… very nice work and good meeting you! Ruckus was very cool. And I chatted with a number of others who’s names escape me but were also quite groovy! As Panos would say, Big hug to you all!

    -MK

  85. michael kircher

    “I’m also convinced you don’t realize how much you’ve learnt in one of these workshops till way after it’s finished. Maybe six months later your subconscious and the concious side of your brain go click and AHA!!”

    Paul… very true.

  87. tanguy

    Hahaha, I also met ‘the man from Alaska’… thanks to my girlfriend who ‘recognized’ frostfrog ;)
    …sorry I missed Michael and MW (didn’t know the faces…)

    …and Davin, how the hell did we miss each other?!?

  90. Akaky

    “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”
    Jimmy Dugan, A League of their own.

    I suppose that’s true about a lot of things, from baseball to photography to doing your own income taxes.

  91. Charles Peterson

    Workshops: never taken one. When I was starting out a good one (by say a Magnum level photog) probably would have done me a lot of good, but I could barely afford film as it was. So I just found my thing and did it. Now, of course I could afford any workshop I want but kind of don’t see the point – for myself that is.

    I think there’s a few different tiers of workshops going on – DAH and his ilk, and then there’s the affluent gear fondlers type. A bit like the difference between a week being pampered at a spa resort and a week getting your butt kicked with ayahuasca in a remote yurt! :) I think your choice helps define your path in life – do you want the easy route that is really only a surface fix or do you want to do the down and dirty (and sometimes scary) inner work.

  93. Paul

    Never took a guitar workshop or needed it thanks to my mother and her manic depressions…
    Home from school quickly lock myself in my room, must hide away from her she is in her usual aggressive bad mood. Pull out a Jimi Hendrix, Led Zep, Queen, SRV, Satriani, Malmsteen, etc LP and transcribe and transcribe a whole song until it was “mine” note for note, took me weeks but at the age of 8 or 9 time usually was on my side. Then I would spend another hour playing an entire Lep Zep, Deep Purple or any other group on my guitar with the stereo system at full belt…
    month after month, year after year…
    You don’t go to lessons you end up giving lessons

  94. Paul

    Michael Kircher…
    Thanks for your kind words, I just wish I could always summon the inspiration to write in that style! But I struggle terribly to write just a single comment, no doubt this is because I spend most of my day speaking in Spanish. What seems to save me a little is I’m an avid reader and I only read in English so that seems to keep my vocabulary in check :)
    I must admit an online thesaurus did wonders the other night :)!!

  95. Jeff Hladun

    I believe David has it right in regard to Gilden’s intended, if not accurately said – or reported – words. Gilden stated most clearly on Day One at the Toronto workshop, taking more than one workshop is pretty much useless. He was most adamant that we not bother to take any more, and equally steadfast that he wouldn’t be too impressed had we come from another. It wasn’t a case of ego, it was just that a workshop is meant to point out weaknesses and hone areas in which to improve. That’s it. It does help in making better photographs, not necessarily incredible photographs.

    That leads into David’s other point: Hard work is the only way to improve one’s work, and this is something Gilden constantly hit me over the head with during our workshop. If any of you think fantastic photographs can be made one after another, and that this is the hallmark of the best of photographers, you have another think coming. I’m sure this will be evident once the Magnum Contact Sheet book becomes available later this year. The truth is Gilden’s “success” rate may be 1.5% whereas the rest of us may hit 1%. It is not that the better photographers take better photographs, it is that they have achieved a certain way of editing, and judging perhaps in a more objective manner, their work.

    Which leads to another benefit of these workshops, which as Paul has accurately surmised, is something that didn’t become evident to many of my fellow workshop students at the time, but seems to have percolated into their work in the interim. Much, if not most of our class time was spent dissecting photographs taken the day before. This was of course led with surgical precision by Gilden, with all of us adding our own thoughts. Gradually, over the week, it became evident that this excercise and its outcome, was the primary goal of a workshop, be it Gilden’s, or David’s, or any serious workshop around. For me, it was the enhancing of the critical eye, with the hope and expectation for a higher perception of objectivity to one’s own work. On the final day of the workshop, Gilden spent some of the class time tearing apart the weaknesses of his own work, as well as the imperfections of his favourite photographs, taken by his favourite photographers. That he was always dissatisfied with certain elements of form and composition was very inspirational, and worthy of consideration.

    Finally, I will confirm David’s insistence on the need for the understanding of the history of photography in particular, and the need to understand art history in general. Gilden had a very deep and broad understanding of both, and was to some extent quite modest about it. There is always something to learn on that score in a workshop, but it would really pay anyone considering taking one to do their homework in that area, and come prepared.

  96. Akaky

    Elmore Leonard’s 10 tricks for good writing:

    1. Never open a book with weather.
    2. Avoid prologues.
    3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
    4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…he admonished gravely.
    5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
    6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
    7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
    8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
    9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
    10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
    My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

    If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

    * Excerpted from the New York Times article, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”

    Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Rules to good writing:

    1.Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
    2.Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
    3.Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
    4.Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
    5.Start as close to the end as possible.
    6.Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
    7.Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
    8.Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

    The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that

    Apply as many of these rules to photography as you can. Enjoy the rest of your day.

  101. Akaky

    AVE AKAKIUS!!!!

    AKAKY: Thinks well of himself, doesn’t he?

    AKAKY IRL: He’s full of shit. All politicians are.

    AKAKY: You’re kidding? That dope’s running for something?

    AKAKY IRL: He’s running for mayor of Pompeii.

    AKAKY: Really? That’s sort of a dead end job, ain’t it, what with no one but cats, archaeologists, and tourists in the neighborhood.

    AKAKY IRL: Hope springs eternal, I guess.

    AKAKY: I guess so.

  103. Imants

    too many so called photographers offer workshops because they cannot make a living in photography …… a bit like people who sell a farmer’s produce and compete against him via marketting.

  104. Ross Nolly

    I’ve been away here for a while due to a couple of family bereavements and an unwell parent; but have been reading most days, just had no time to comment.

    I’ve never done a workshop; but have had a (nearly) one-hour Skype session with David; and quite a few Skype text “conversations”. What I found after the Skype face to face chat was that it took a while for it all to sink in. I did notice a difference pretty much right away; but the major changes happened 6-months or so down the track.

    Thinking back; it wasn’t the technical critique that helped me the most (even though it was important) it was the re-evaluating of my thoughts on how I wanted to shoot new work. It was a change in thinking; more than any technique change. It was getting out of the magazine/photo library mind set. I look back at the work I have in photo libraries and cringe…. Ouch…

    I can imagine a week-long workshop would be an intense version of what I’ve mentioned above. But it still requires the hard yards to be put in afterwards as there is no silver bullet. It all comes down to how hard you are prepared to work afterwards. And also; what you define as a successful outcome; to me that would be attempting (and hopefully succeeding) to push work to a new level. Just my 2c worth! :-)

  108. panos skoulidas

    http://www.artshow2011.com/

    ALL CLICK ABOVE AND SUBMIT: 20THOUSAND SQUARE FEET gallery will open in LA , to accept MR. BRAINWASH’s request, All accepted (he stole my idea) and by the end of the show ALL DONATED WORK WILL BE DESTROYED (BURN-ED)…NOthing to sale!!!!..only TO SHOWCASE AND DESTROY..
    (i will steal his idea next time, ha ha ,fair enough???????????)

  110. panos skoulidas

    aLSO thank u ALL THAT SUBMITTED AND SUPPORT “BURN-ED GARDEN” EXHIBITION STARTING OCTOBER 8TH IN SA TEXAS and dreaming to move it to Australia…unless..everything is SOLD out and then i’ll have “nothing” for Australia!!!! how cool could that be!
    AlSo BURN.02 BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE SPOT FOR SALE!

    we also gonna PROJECT PART OF THE BOOK ON THE BUILDING WALL SO EVEN CARS CAN SEE THE SHOW FROM THE STREETS!!!!etc! blah blah!

  112. Gordon Lafleur

    Wind-up
    Charles Gatewood, now I havn’t seen his name mentioned for awhile. Must google him. Loved his street stuff (and I’m not a big street fan, don’t relate, grew up and still live in the sticks)

  118. panos skoulidas

    This week will be very busy!! Hanging, labeling , coz the exhibition opens next Saturday , plus I’m receiving some “heavy” names/ prints , this week
    Too..!! Still flying, on airplanes , arriving from all over the world!!!

  120. michael kircher

    Rick Perry, governor of Panos’ newly adopted state:

    “I don’t believe man-made global warming is settled in science enough.”

    “I’m not afraid to say I’m a skeptic about [climate change].”

    You don’t need to be afraid, but you should be ashamed, Rick.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRc_9nNTZg0&feature=player_embedded

    Turns out climate scientists are in fact wrong… but not in the direction we’d prefer. Computer models predictions are UNDER estimating the speed at which arctic ice is melting. A completely ice free arctic is possible not in 2050 or 2100, but quite likely in 2030 or 2020. Maybe sooner. Ugh.

  121. panos skoulidas

    Rick Perry, governor of Panos’ newly adopted state:
    ——————————–
    objection!
    (we r moving back HOME to venice beach sooooooooooonest after all that !!!!!!!
    there is always one home and one home ONLY!
    AS DAH SAID ONCE : “MY AVALON!”

  124. Imants

    anytime Ross ……..it is a great project of yours anda part of life that you seem to understand and capable of translating photographically

  125. david alan harvey

    IMANTS..

    you wrote: “too many so called photographers offer workshops because they cannot make a living in photography …… a bit like people who sell a farmer’s produce and compete against him via marketing.”

    i think this CAN be true..however, most often i feel the opposite…

    i think that workshops provide for students an economic alternative to the formal education institutions where guaranteed 100% of the teachers do not earn a living in photography and are often honestly “out of the loop” of what is actually going on in the craft….

    photo workshop teachers at the very best workshop venues like Santa Fe, TPW, etc etc do in fact provide teachers/mentors who ARE in the biz …and at a much much lower cost than a year at university, spending many thousands of dollars, and getting only a very cursory look at this craft…some do better than others of course, but just by their very nature the faculty is a faculty…a set group of people who do not move…..these faculties do have a lot to offer of course at the very best universities, but an even larger number honestly send students out into a world with seriously useless information…i am often shocked when i hear what some teachers tell their students…truly embarrassing, truly not accurate, truly harmful to the student who wants to grow…of course the naturally talented will survive even the worst teachers

    there are exceptions and there is of course extraordinary value in university educations in general, but for very specific interests in photography, no way to beat a workshop….i did both…uni, grad school, and workshop..for what i wanted as a serious photographer, the workshop was the ticket and i was at one of the very best institutions for docu photography…

    i have thought for a long time to do a series of interviews with the directors of the best institutions…for some are good and i do not want to put out a blanket disparaging comment…all in perspective of course…

    you must look around and be judicious …but the wasted time and dollars i see out there are for too much equipment and too much tuition at many institutions….a wisely chosen workshop with a mentor you respect should be a lifetime investment that will outlast and outweigh all of the others…

    you and i will meet in Sydney and hopefully do some teaching duets if you will…there is always something to learn…

    cheers, david

  126. marcin luczkowski

    I don’t know this is chinese or greek (or whatever) proverb tell “Great philosophers makes many good philosophers, but good philosophers makes many great great philosophers”.

    I think wise teacher don’t have to be a great photographer. Otherwise, looking for talents further than in the glare of the greatest could be a waste of time. I am sure the pupils of the masters are not the sole emegring photographers with the hope of success.

  127. Paul

    David…

    I suppose there must be some of the greats who are useless at teaching. I’ve seen this with some guitarists, absolute naturals all gut instinct but could never explain there style, magic or technique.

  128. david alan harvey

    MARCIN

    agreed…a great teacher does not have to be great at what he/she teaches…that COULD be the case, but it is not necessary to be sure…

    what we were discussing Marcin was not the greatness of the artist/teacher, but the knowledge of the craft being taught by that teacher…the actual content…the stuff…the information..the reality…

    very specifically teachers who themselves need to be taught, or brought up to date, or properly informed…the nature of an institution is ironically often a closed environment..the antithesis of learning….again, not all…i want to be clear on that point…but, many…many hurt more than help…

    yes, of course there is no perfect teaching environment…i know this…and something is better than nothing…i know this too…but one must carefully pick and choose their path… you need two things as always: (a) content, (b) presentation..all i was saying is that you cannot present very honestly/accurately/helpfully IF you do not have the content…and the same is true of books, shows, magazines, everything….content has always been king, but now more than ever…

    cheers, david

  129. panos skoulidas

    Paul there is much truth to what u said: i know how to ride a bike but its so hard to try teach anyone (especially an adult) how to balance on a bicycle…somehow its easier to teach a kid! what is it? Innocence? No fear? why kids learn fast and adults stall? is that old saying “cant teach an old dog new tricks still in effect???????? smiling!

  130. david alan harvey

    PAUL

    yes…and Marcin is quite correct…great teachers might be great at what they teach or they might not be…two separate things…..some can do it , and cannot teach it, and some can teach it and cannot do it, and some can do both…one could easily make long lists of examples for all three categories…and even the word “teaching” is very very subjective..some teach “how to”, some inspire….basically , we are all students and all teachers….one thing for sure about homo sapiens…we are fast fast friggin learners..amazing really …what we pulled out of the dirt, water, rocks, and trees in 10,000 years is phenomenal(there isn’t anything else for resources..i mean this laptop came out of the dirt on the ground..literally…think about it…)…..nobody knows everything…but everybody knows something..collectively we have no boundaries…all is possible that we can imagine, all is possible that we cannot imagine……impressive, truly what man has learned from fellow man in the last 10,000 years…it can seem perhaps a bit depressing what we have not learned about relationships and a variety of humanistic subtleties…but hell, we just got here!!!

    PANOS..

    it is harder to teach an old dog new tricks but ONLY because of lack of an open mind, not because of the actual physical age…old people can do great things if they WANT to…children learn easier simply because they have a clean slate, do not have any baggage, and learning is in fact the nature of survival in the earliest stages of life…once survival is established, man often stops learning to survive in the most basic sense of it…this is not good…

    one must wake up every morning seeing , smelling, feeling like a wild animal needs to feel in order to survive..

    complacent means dead..maybe literally and most certainly artistically…

    cheers, david

  131. panos skoulidas

    .collectively we have no boundaries…
    —————————————-

    yes yes yes..
    ALL,
    support Burn, support “BURN-ED GARDEN” opening this saturday in SA TEXAS!
    because collectively we have NO boundaries indeed!

  132. panos skoulidas

    Also, we gonna do a big projection on the gallery building outer walls of BURN.02 BOOK so people can see and enjoy , parts of the book throughout the city , even if they are randomly driving the cars in the surrounding streets!!!!! and dont forget the free beer, taco stands, dj’s and “dancers”!!!!!!
    but most important :
    YOUR ART WILL BE ON THE WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COLLECTIVELY!!!!!!!!!!!!

  134. dellicson

    Eva and DAH: I corrected my post and removed any mention of Gilden. I think I need my ears checked. I was in the back of the room and obviously could not hear him refer to “too many workshops”. My apologies.

  135. mw

    I’d just add that a good university education provides benefits far beyond the photo aspect. It’s not much use being a good photographer, documentary at least, if you don’t have much understanding of what you’re photographing.

    My university training was pretty much like one of David’s workshops only spread out over semesters. Expectations were high, we went out and shot, the class critiqued our slides, guests dropped by, we learned history and watched lots of slideshows of iconic photographers (that part was much more thorough than a workshop), we had a show at the end. No party though. Of course all aren’t the same.

    And the general journalism classes, including jlaw and ethics were important as well.

  136. marcin luczkowski

    DAVID,

    Just like you agreed to with me, I have to agree with you.
    But like other proverb says “There is always hundreds ways to one point”
    The most important is to find just one of them.

    piece of cake…. looking from the point…

  145. eva

    PANOS..

    “Also, we gonna do a big projection on the gallery building outer walls of BURN.02 BOOK so people can see and enjoy , parts of the book throughout the city , even if they are randomly driving the cars in the surrounding streets!!!!!”

    You mean, that if there’s people banging their heads into light poles or crashing into the car in front of them it’ll be BURN’S fault???

  147. Paul

    If I had favour between a teacher with a vast photography knowledge and not being a very inspiring tutor and a teacher with less knowledge but with the capacity to inspire all those round him/her, I’m sure I’d choose the second. Of course if you can choose one with both all the better, but I’ve seen time and time again very knowledgeable teachers who just killed the creativity within a pupil because of their lack of enthusiasm.

    If you’re going to take a pupil whatever their age into the uncharted realms of their creativity, they require without doubt a strong and sturdy guide who is just as amazed and engaged by the magic within our creative minds. This teacher must be just as prepared as the pupil to invest a part of his soul in that dream and if it means believing dragonflies are fairies and Elvis is sick and tired of working at that gas station up in Nevada, then you do it.

  150. mw

    RE: Ignorance is Bliss, you just don’t understand the ethics of religious Americans, Panos. Anything that give any kind of enjoyment has to have negative consequences, so in the case of cannabis, since there really aren’t any, they have to manufacture them by making it illegal and siccing the cops on people. Look at what they do with pain pills; load them up with mass quantities of acetaminophen, which really doesn’t do much, so that anyone who abuses them stands a fair chance of fucking up their liver. Anyway, examples are numerous, but that’s the root of it. Unadulterated good times are unchristian and must be punished.

  152. a civilian-mass audience

    can I sing now?…cause I will PROTEST…

    damnit…I am already protesting…enough…I just came “home” to sing and say this:
    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLL and I miss you ALLLLLLLLLLLL…

    humbly
    your civi

    P.S THANK YOU for all your messages…you are true BURNIANS…

  153. Imants

    It is those workshops to “exotic places” and the become a old style photojournalist courses that are a bit of a worry and seem to be money spinners for the presenters. There is a dime dozen advertised on photo sites throughout the wwwdot world. It is too easy to get seduced into the “fishing in a basket trap”.

  154. Imants

    you and i will meet in Sydney and hopefully do some teaching duets if you will…there is always something to learn… ………. I already have grin on my face about the possibility.

  156. panos skoulidas

    Imants u absolutely right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Workshops everywhere,,Disneyland everywhere………… buuuuuuuuuuuullllllllllsssshhhhhhhhhhittttttttttttt!

    but but but,,,a DAH workshop is more like going to an EXPENSIVE THERAPIST than the usual bullshit, let me show u how your camera works fake ass baloney!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  157. panos skoulidas

    DAH is a real MENTOR , an INSPIRATION, a guy that CHANGED MY LIFE…in a positive way…
    ps (these are the words coming from the heart of an ex but REAL hardcore JUNKIE…)

  161. a civilian-mass audience

    for those of you that went to hell …and came back…
    this I have to say:

    YOU ARE TRUE HEROES…the journey is everything …!

    IMANTS…don’t talk about chickens right now…cause when I was out protesting…I lost some…

    I hope…they are in goods hands…(or stomachs) …oime,oime…
    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLL

    please,keep reporting…I am watching YOU (u have been warned)

  162. a civilian-mass audience

    hmmm…maybe my chickens are in your area…yeap,IMANTS…my chickens are there…

    I am optimistic

    VIVA BURN…cause I really miss you ALLL

  163. Herve

    DAH:
    of course the naturally talented will survive even the worst teachers
    ——————

    Yep, probably even in a greater proportion than surviving the best teachers! :-)))

  164. Paul

    A lot of these flashy workshops are all about nice straight horizons and similar rules…so far removed from real life real expression perfect for mags. My horizon has generally always been tilted in life. Many years trying to get it straight in my images…screw tilted or straight now i am busy with emotion and saying something thats only mine…

  165. Jeff Hladun

    One can always look at the workshop experience by asking: “What’s in it for you?”. This also applies to the workshop leader. (It goes for the professor of a college or university course as well.) It may simply be a case of paying the mortgage, or just putting food on the table. But, perhaps for those photographers who have a genuine interest in teaching, and have achieved a level of expertise, or success, could it not be that they realize their place in history can be pegged not so much by what they have achieved, but in the way they, by teaching, strentghen their position in the historic continuum? I think of the Renaissance painters, with their ateliers and studios, and their later “Schools of…”, who may have made their place as much by their tutelage, as their work itself.

  166. Justin Partyka

    ALL:

    Interesting comments about workshops being tossed around.

    As someone who never studied photography in a formal institution I can say that taking a couple of workshops instead really worked for me. I would expect that as institution fees continue to increase and the money that people have to spend on education decreases, the approach to taking one or two carefully selected workshops will eventually become the preferred choice of “studying” photography.

    The best workshops really are photography boot-camps and make you know deep-down if you are prepared to stick it out long term and work independently on your own projects. And that is an important realisation.

    For those that are interested, I’ve just updated my website with info about a new book and exhibition. Click on my name.

    PANOS: sorry I have not sent a book for the Texas show. Stock is limited at the moment and I need what I have for my current show here. My loss I know. But pleased to be supporting you with a print. Look forward to seeing photos of the space.

    Cheers,

    Justin

  167. david alan harvey

    JEFF..

    good analysis…good thinking…

    i think some artists , as you point out historically, have a natural sense of paying back/paying forward…Matisse felt the need to teach, Picasso did not…so it just depends….workshop mentors are not the same as college professors…major distinction..professors are career teachers…workshop mentors earn their living as working photographers and sometimes teach…..it may provide some supplemental income, but imagine a one week class actually takes at least three weeks of time to the organizer, so there are better ways to make a living…really good teachers do it as more of a maintenance of the legacy of the craft , the work….others curate, as Martin Parr…as Susan Meiselas…certainly a place in history is at the core of everyone at Magnum, so i think your analysis to be basically right on…in my case, i would not want the tutelage to outweigh the work, but of course this is not my decision, but will be a judgement by others…

    i say this because i know that i absolutely 100% cannot teach UNLESS i am in the middle of publishing a book, or mounting a show, or on a major assignment…THAT is all i have to teach..real experience happening NOW..not last year or based on some achievement 10 yrs ago, but based on right now…

    sharing the pains and the opportunities of real world real time production is the only thing that i am about..and absolutely not looking for any clones as did the Renaissance painters…mine is a whole different agenda….i love to spark somebody..get them going…have them produce great great work to the very best of their ability…and at the same time, i am pushing myself to do the same….

    of course i am not speaking for other teachers in other venues who may view the above differently…only my own opinion and modality…

    and of course i hope some see the very very obvious…Burn IS a workshop…i started Road Trips and evolved into Burn as 100% a mirror of my workshops..track Burn carefully, read everything, submit work, link up, ask questions, and you will get a workshop….

    cheers, david

  170. a civilian-mass audience

    wow…live 24/7 workshop…I get a workshop too…
    THANK YOU,thank YOU…!!!

    BURN is the place to BE…I knew it!

    no worries…I am not gonna sing:)))

  171. a civilian-mass audience

    WORLD ANIMAL DAY…today

    BURNIANS…we all know …we DO celebrate every day…!!!

    P.S…ADMIN…I am lost. Which one is my aisle?

  172. eva

    If you go see Mitch Epstein exhibit, make sure you also see the video. To me, hearing photographers talking about their work, well, that’s kind of a workshop too.. looking (or already knowing more deeply) a body of work, thinking about it, and then have the opportunity to learn from the one who has made this work the why and how.. is great..

    David.. now wondering which one you refer too..

    And gotta educate myself about Saul Leiter, on show here too, Early Color.. plus interview.. great great day..

  174. a civilian-mass audience

    EVA…you are Cramazing…

    as JOHNYG says…red dot on your print…yeah,my LADY…cramazing indeed!!!

  175. a civilian-mass audience

    P.S I know a BURNIAN…who is gonna love,love your pic!:)

    VIVA ITALY!

    Viva BURNING Universe !

  177. a civilian-mass audience

    yes,yes…JUSTIN…as GORDON says…”lovely,lovely body of work”!!!

    from all of US here in BURNLAND…we wish you …best times JUSTIN and beer on YOU!

  178. a civilian-mass audience

    hiii…don’t we all love our Academians…(AKAKIUS,AKAKYIRL…
    BOBBIUS,SIDNEUS,JEFFIUS,ERICUS…)

  179. eva

    DAH writes:

    “mine is a whole different agenda….i love to spark somebody..get them going…have them produce great great work to the very best of their ability…and at the same time, i am pushing myself to do the same….”

    ..to the very best of THEIR ability..

    Exactly THIS is why I’m here and support this BURN thing, as best as I can whenever I can, even if it’s only my little bit.. in the hope that as long as Burn is not/does not become a burden he’ll hang out here too.. to spark those who need/want it.. and if in return from all here it sparks back, hell, what more to ask?

  184. Ross Nolly

    I’ve recently been looking through Frank’s “The Americans”- the expanded version wih contact sheets-500+ pages! I’ve found that viewing those contact sheets has been as enjoyable as the actual essay; just about a “mini workshop”! It’s also nice to know that even the greats don’t nail it every time! :-)

  192. Mike R

    Panos, Vissaria, you know how you see a photograph and think “I wish that I’d taken that photo”? Vissaria; I wish I’d taken your photo of the swan. I Sooo wish that I could be there for the opening night!

    Vissaria, the Burnian niece from Greece: what’s it like to have so many Burn Aunts and Uncles?

  193. Mike R

    On the subject of workshops, David writes “i say this because i know that i absolutely 100% cannot teach UNLESS i am in the middle of publishing a book, or mounting a show, or on a major assignment…THAT is all i have to teach..real experience happening NOW..not last year or based on some achievement 10 yrs ago, but based on right now…” – I’ve been thinking about this and I imagine that for any emerging photographer this is exactly what they need to know.

    Using the analogy of childhood play, we as photographers need to experience different aspects of the craft to find our own vision and path – just as children experiment with role play and thereby gain social and interaction skills. Any skills learned on a workshop are, I imagine, useful but to be able to talk to someone like David (no hero worship here, it could be (name your experienced photographer)) is surely worth its weight in gold. A participant in a workshop should, again in my opinion, take what they can from the experience and use it to establish their own vision and signature. Just like life experience really.

    Mike.

  194. panos skoulidas

    Vissaria, the Burnian niece from Greece: what’s it like to have so many Burn Aunts and Uncles?
    ————————————————-
    Mike R, awesome! u r amazing , thank you!

  201. Akaky

    AKAKY: So where’s the Akakius dude?

    AKAKY IRL: Meeting with his election committee, I hear. Apparently someone else wants to be mayor of Pompeii too.

    AKAKY: Why? Who wants to be the mayor of a dead city?

    AKAKY IRL: Beats me, guy, but there’s no accounting for tastes. Some people want to be mayor of Detroit, some people want to rollerskate to disco. Go figure.

  202. Dominik Dunsch

    PANOS – love those prints you’re showing, every single one of them! Thanks so much for that peep behind the scenes! And again – thanks so much for pulling this off!

    Yeah, PAUL, PANOS, DIEGO, VIVEK, AUDREY, LAURA, and – wow! – VISSARIA – I’m loving it!
    Hug from Germany, uncle Dominik.

    PS: VIVEK – you know I love that one!!!

  204. panos skoulidas

    Uncle D! Yes, Vissaria has a lot of great uncles and aunts in this Burn world!
    fascinating!
    u should see her prints!
    they have a strange metallic book (i printed them personally in metallic Kodak paper)
    one love!!!!!!!!!!!!

  207. Dominik Dunsch

    PANOS – I’d love to see Vissaria’s prints, they already look fascinating on Instagram! Yeah, one love!

    LAURA – I’m planning to come to Paris Photo this year – how could I possibly miss this? ;-)

  208. panos skoulidas

    http://instagr.am/p/PIIxR/

    ALL!! OCCUPY(wall
    Street) SAN ANTONIO Texas IN 2 days!!!

    I’ll cover it and I’ll let u know the progress!!!
    ( if for ANY reason u won’t hear from me , then u know what went “wrong” and/ or where to find me!!!)
    Yes , time to follow the GREEK SPIRIT and PROTEST!!

  212. a civilian-mass audience

    I am singing for P.S:

    PANOS…you are not only a rockandrolla
    BUT YOU are a big reportaaa
    you and the civilian next to YOU
    her name I believe is KIMSUE
    yeaaah,yeahhh,oh you
    ~~~~~~
    amazing effort
    by ALL of YOU
    BURNING like fire
    in San Antoniou
    oooohh,yeahhh,oh you
    prints and vision
    magnetic walls
    beers and wines
    on the floors
    BURNIAN’S spirit
    you do have balls…
    ~~~~~~~~
    ooooh,oooh…a BURNING lifting for our souls…
    (to be continued)

  213. a civilian-mass audience

    MIKER…I need report for the cat

    DOMINIK…once again…BRAVOOOOO!!!

    EVA…sending hugs…November is near…

    Big day for me…I will be out…Big Strike…
    may the spirits bring… no blood

    to all of you in the Universe…BE STRONG we can do this…TOGETHER!!!

    BURNIANS…please keep reporting…I miss so many of you…and I DO LOVE YOU(blah,blah):)))

  214. a civilian-mass audience

    FROSTFROGY…take some time out…
    you are under shock…
    you can report later(but you have to report)…I count on YOU!

    MICHAELK…thank you AGAIN…and yes,my man…YOU DO FLY!!!wow…

    oime!

  215. a civilian-mass audience

    and KERRY PAYNE…lady BURNIAN with red hair,
    an AUSSIE in NY…HAPPY B-day

    partyyy is on!!!

  218. eva

    John..

    Saul Leitner –> color –> poetry –> YES!

    Why nobody told me about him?? Wandering through his photographs is like floating through the sea, softly wrapped in warm and fresh at the same time, and then being touched right at the heart..

    It happens now and then when I visit exhibits, see shows or leaf through books, the warm is felt sometimes.. the straight touch to the heart not very often, but when it happens it’s bliss..

  219. eva

    Plus to hear him talk about photography, in general and his, and sbout life.. he’s got it right, just right..

  220. Jeff Hladun

    David:

    I can see that a workshop leader being in the eye of the creative storm would lead to a more intense learning experience for the students; it’s a stepping-up of the juices which would flow both ways. How sad it would be if the opposite was in play, and the mentor was suffering from a blocking low-point in his output. It becomes an interesting dialectical experience. The students raise their game, and the mentor can resolve his creativity by articulating what is going on with his projects at the time. Given that you say – and I wholeheartedly agree – that Burn is a workshop, it pleases me that you get as much from the experience as we do…if my analysis holds true!

    And I also agree that the point of a workshop experience shouldn’t be, and actually mustn’t be, to produce clones of the leader’s style and outlook. There are some students who unfortunately may get nothing from the experience, those who will improve, those who will continue to improve from future mentoring, and finally, the protege, who, if they can do it right, will take the artform to the next level. That is really the hallmark of a great teacher…to have a pupil outdo teacher. That would really entrench the teacher in history books.

    Ross:

    I too love viewing contact sheets, for the very reasons you do. David said yesterday Picasso didn’t teach, but Jean Renoir filmed “The Mystery of Picasso” in which Pablo did not nothing but create works of art. I remember being surprised at how he’d paint, then scrape off, and repeat over and over compositions and forms on a single canvas. It was the equivalent of a contact sheet, with mistakes reworked until he was satisfied. (All done in time-lapse.) It was a revelation to watch, as I had always thought he was able to master a canvas with single stroke precision. In the same way, we seem to romantisize the efforts of photographers, forgetting how hard they have to work, and the sheer amount of mistakes they make, until they get it right.

    Panos:

    I’m relieved that the Canadian prints arrived! Steve, too. I wish I could be a fly-on-the-wall at the opening, just to see the gallery filled with Burning work. All the best, and continued success for carrying out this brilliant concept!

  221. Paul

    Eva…

    I’ve got one of Soul Leiter’s books it’s half BW and colour. Yes his colour work is poetry he was enjoying himself stands out a mile and I liked his whole philosophy on life and photography but everytime I’ve looked at his BW work I just don’t like it one bit.

  222. Mike R

    Civi, Tom Cat is asleep next to me; he goes to the vet tomorrow for an x-ray and, if the break in his leg has healed, the pin will be removed at the same time. All being well he will be able to go out on his own by weekend – and so will I.

    I’ve only taken one photograph for my essay since he broke his leg (six weeks!) as I won’t just leave him alone. He likes a bit of company. It’s a good photo though!

    Stay safe in Grecolandia,

    Mike.

  224. Justin Partyka

    GORDON:

    Many thanks. The framed exhibition prints have been shown elsewhere but I feel they really are shown at their best in this venue of a 19th century threshing barn which has been converted into an exhibition space. The installation photographs on my website include the two large prints which measure 68 x 50 inches. Having works this size really becomes a problem in terms of storage and transport, but when it comes to exhibition spaces like this, they really are worth the hassle they cause in-between. As they are glazed with laminated museum glass, the weight of them can be a problem too.

    Did you see that the writer Ken Mitchell from Saskatchewan is doing an event with me as part of the exhibition. I spent some time with him when I was in Saskatchewan in 2005.

    Cheers,

    Justin

  228. panos skoulidas

    http://instagr.am/p/PLDs9/

    LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THIS IS THE TIME WE ALL PATIENTLY WAITED FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    DAH , THE MAN ………..arrived in a MAGNUM bulletproof box!
    AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZINNGGGGGGGGGGGG PRRRRRRRINTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

    Cant even express to u how beautiful it is (little tease on link above- Not the whole photo included in instagram link above)

  230. eva

    Justin..

    Thanks.. seems a write up of the video I saw yesterday.. amazung room, wonder how deep his archive is, not only the photographs.. and am off to write a hundred times LEITER, sorry for misspelling..

    Paul..

    Have found a used copy of ‘Early Color’ which is killing my balance (if I ever had any..).. but will search for his bw also, once I am home and have more time..

    Panos..

    did I say YOU ROCK already? :D

  231. pAtrIcIO m.

    @ PANOS: D-72hs and countin’… (with the voice of that man, from NASA Space Center, before the departure of the rocket).

    As I said to you in the letter, thanks for doing this! Happy that almost everyone had sent to you a print (big or small, doesn’t matter) The aim is to fill the gallery with burnian pictures!

    Keep going, and could you take a picture of the wall before the opening but not with the Hispamatic…
    Gracias
    pAtrIcIO
    PS: If there is no NBA, just broadcast the event LIVE and maybe St Antonio TV will be interested on that…

  233. john gladdy

    Eva. The copy of Early color will repay itself so many times over.
    Eva/Paul. Re: Saul Leiter B&W work. My Contention has always been that Leiter was an artist who used a color palatte that he ‘lucked into'[ maybe] and produced a wonderful series of lyrical pieces. His black and white work seems to bear this out as it has very little of the magic and poetry that the other work holds. It may also be that it is from another period in the artists life, but either way it does not hold up next to the other work when judged using the same criteria.[A purely visual satisfaction] I remember a conversation with David where we were discussing leiter and a photographer David felt was similar in feel to his work. I disagreed, then as I do now, stating that ‘early color’ IS DEFINED PRIMARILY BY THE PALATTe, and to a much lesser degree by framing conventions or mis en scene. The BW would seem to support this.

  234. Paul

    Eva and John…

    “His black and white work seems to bear this out as it has very little of the magic and poetry that the other work holds”

    I’ve got this book http://www.amazon.com/Saul-Leiter/dp/3865215874/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1317845430&sr=8-3 I just can’t get through the BW stuff without jumping straight to the colour work. Personally the only reason the colour works is because of kodachrome and if we turned those images into BW I’m sure I would struggle to enjoy them just as much as the real BW work.

  235. Imants

    Picasso had no time to teach remember is was occupied with possessing women and spitting them out at the other end …………..a arrogant bastard

  239. panos skoulidas

    How Steve Jobs grew up
    Jobs dropped out of Oregon’s Reed College after one semester, although he returned to audit a class in calligraphy, which he says influenced Apple’s graceful, minimalist aesthetic. He quit one of his first jobs, designing video games for Atari, to backpack across India and take psychedelic drugs. Those experiences, Jobs said later, shaped his creative vision.

  242. a civilian-mass audience

    MR.STEVE JOBS is going upstairs…

    I give to give him credit cause…he fought hard to stay downstairs..
    THANK YOU STEVIE…your vision our vision…

  243. a civilian-mass audience

    Now reporting from downstairs…

    I have a warning …
    if you are holding a camera…please BE advised
    you are a moving target
    if you are a civilian…you are a target…anyways…:(
    BUT,BUT,BUT…don’t give up
    keep “fighting”…oime

    I am an optimist(yes,MIKER…like TOMCAT)…and NOBODY,NOBODY can take away my vision…

    BE STRONG …we have only 7 lives…proceed accordingly!!!

  244. a civilian-mass audience

    sometimes I wonder if the hell is…downstairs or upstairs…hmmm…

    BURNIANS…Spread the word…RESPECT…!!!

  245. a civilian-mass audience

    “Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
    Steve Jobs

    Yoho,yoho…the pirates life for US…

    what did I tell you…WE ARE ALL PIRATES…is that right,MR.HARVEY and MY BURNIANS?

    We love you STEVIE…and VIVAAAAAAAAA!!!

  246. eva

    I have absolutely no time to be here, unpacking and packing for the next trip.. but…

    http://photographyinterviews.blogspot.com/2009/04/saul-leiter-quiet-iconoclast-saul.html

    http://www.lensculture.com/leiter.html

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLlmmJDhMEU&

    Part 1 of three, but it’s not the video I saw, that was about 15 minutes at least…

    John.. getting that book was a no brainer.. most expensive book as of late, but was lucky to find it used, with a bit of damage on the cover, but who cares.. it won’t sit on the shelf much anyway..

    ——-

    Steve Jobs.. one of those who not only dream big, but live big dreams..

  248. panos skoulidas

    “That’s the type of support that may make an NYPD cop think twice before he decides to go all Tiananmen Square on a group of teenage girls, armed with chalk and cardboard signs (maybe it’s because they are spelled properly?).
    “The Occupy Wall Street movement may have thought it broke new ground when the NYC Transit Union joined their movement, but that ground just tipped the Richter Scale with news that United States Army and Marine troops are reportedly on their way to various protest locations to support the movement and to protect the protesters.”

  255. eva

    Civi.. are you Greek? ;)

    Google translation here:

    “They arrested the policeman who rang the photojournalist

    Accused of abuse, unprovoked bodily harm and violent behavior
    Arrested by the police riot that hit photojournalist Tatiana Bolaris during yesterday’s incidents in the Constitution. Against the file will be created and brought before the prosecutor.

    Earlier today, the photographer, who injured her neck, lodged a complaint with the General Police Directorate of Attica.

    For the attack on journalists have filed eyewitnesses to officers of the Police

    From police headquarters has ordered an investigation and in doing so, except for deposits is expected to gather visual material (videos and photos), which has already been published and shows the circumstances of the injury photojournalist and violent repression of other photographers and journalists.

    The police officer accused of “insulting, unprovoked bodily harm and violent behavior against a woman journalist.””

    Go out, protest, but but but stay safe!.. crossing waters, yes, but only a channel, or canal, or something like that.. going to Sicily..

  264. a civilian-mass audience

    PANOS are we ready??? are we,are you?

    oime…San Antonio is BURNING!!! I can smell it…

    EVA… I love this baby…like all my BURNIAN kids(DIMAS,FELIX,TORCAPA,MICHELLE,DARK KIDS,VISSARIA…SADIE and so many others)
    they are under the protection of the civilian’s umbrella…
    therefore…
    WHAT NOT TO LOVE!!!!!

    I LOVE U ALL…MIKER i need update and I am waiting more reports…HERVE,FROSTY,GORDON.TOMH,AUDREY,WENDY,
    FRANK,DAVIDDBOWEN,REIMAR,THOMAS,EMCD,DOMINIK,OURPATRICIA,ROSSY…CATHY,NANCY,PETE,JIM,KATHARINA,VALERY,
    KATIA,LEE…HAIK,LASSAL,GLENN,SAMMY,ROSA,KURT,MARCIN…
    MYGRACIE,KATIEEEEEEEE…oime

    where are u MY BURNIANS ???

  269. Jeremy Wade Shockley

    Mike…Good talkin’ this morning, and thanks for the shout out here on Burn.

    NY workshop looks like an absolute blast! One of these days I’ll have to put a shine on the ol’ cowboy boots and head to the Big Apple….fiesta time!

    Well done Burnians – once again.

  271. david alan harvey

    CHARLES..

    i agree…but next time you see something that could be a Burn essay, better to let us know before you link it here…once everybody has seen it in a link in comments then we do lose some interest..of course we will continue to use some stories previously published/previously seen, but we are going for 90% never seen before and first published here on Burn…02 for example had work that we did not even publish here…..but surely we can go with this one anyway…pretty funny…thanks…

    cheers, david

  272. Jeremy Wade Shockley

    Sounds great David!

    Everything is set to go, I look forward to it. Many thanks. We missed each other, I was shooting in Florida when you were last in Durango, small world, busy schedules.

    Jeremy

  273. a civilian-mass audience

    AKAKY…300 is mine!!!!!!!!!!!

    nice reporting MY BURNIANS…and as JEREMY says…well done(like my eggs)!!!

    VIVAAAAAAAA

  274. Akaky

    And tomorrow I am off to the great metropolis, there to study the native indigenes in their colorful local garb as they celebrate being found by a man who thought he was somewhere else. Finding out you’re not where you want to be is always a bummer, I think.

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