Hi Alec, after seeing Matt Day's video on your new work, I felt a bit nostalgic for your videos. I really enjoyed your photobook 'reviews' and other insights.. would you consider making some new ones again?

Highly appreciate this video. Its kinda crazy, when my oldest mentor in photography told me about the beat generation that he was part of I was definitely way too young to understand what he was aiming for. But now, almost 10 years later after listening till the very end of this video I understand what he was trying to tell me back then. Thank you Alec Soth!

This is some of the best videos on photography I have found on the web (open to suggestions) . I hope there will be more!

Watching this in 2024 when your new book "Advice for Young Artists" has recently been published. I am very curious, does the title come from the Lecture Dice?

I would a part 2 to this 😢

thank you very much, Alec

another wonderful video! you are educating us here in such an easygoing manner. i am making notes of every video of yours.

It would be cool to know which photobooks you consider the best of all time.

Who declined Alec Soth?? wow.. :|

At 37:48, you can see a car on the bridge at the back, and it's not at the same place on the 2 pictures. They were probably taken apart within a couple seconds of time frame.

Wow, that was depressing...

love the video so much giving so many inspiration keep it going!!!

Rudolph Burckhardt - wow!

Dang! I was expecting depression :))

I enjoyed all your little lectures so much and would love to see more!

The first book of yours I bought, I didn’t have a clue who you were or really what photo books were. Years ago I did something similar in Tokyo. I discovered a little shop selling t-shirts on a corner in Shinjuku. It was a tiny room with stairs going down to an equally tiny space exhibiting photos by Daido Moriyama, a name that took almost a decade to really enter my proper awareness. The photos were funny, the t-shirts were all prints of his photos-I bought one for my wife-and I bought the 2 books of his on sale. I didnt have a clue who he was or why the books were like they were. I was interested in books on art and artists that were full of pictures and information. I even bought a book on the studio props and artefacts of Morandi without knowing of Joel Meyerowitz…not that there was much psychological weight, just the simplicity of the objects and the rich colour and light. Anyway I think I watched this video quite a while ago but it didnt really affect me as much as it has today. I agree with you about the importance of his daughter to the reading of the book. I think he hoped that his daughter and her generation might not have to carry the same guilt and despair that he felt. You never know with art. Thanks for sharing and informing.

22:12 Actually Elvis Presleys house 😄

thank you

See, feel, click.

I often find myself revisiting these videos and I’ve noticed that as my priorities and interests change over time I’m drawn towards and get excited by new revelations every time

Perez work never fails to make me emotional, the sequencing is unreal, so much nuance. Thanks Alex.

please come back alec!

Any plans coming to Europe?

Phenomenal video. Thank you.

Just wanted to mention that many of those Evans photos (including the ones you single out) can be downloaded for free (at high res) from the Library of Congress. Print your own! Your grandparents already paid for them.

A waterski jump picture of questionable connection to anything else is also a loving homage to Happy Days ;)

It's a sad example of a design failure, in my opinion. I believe you that the text is integral, and yet the typography is pure sabotage. You and I are both curious readers, but both have the same reaction to that wall of type: "uh ... I'm going back to bed." I find it's hard enough to get photo book people to read anything beyond the front cover. If I were to do a book with integral text, I'd consider it a major design challenge to convey its importance, and to make as inviting as possible.

Come for the in-depth discussion of how context creates meaning in a photobook. Stay for the mention of the Nick Cave scene in Wings of Desire. "I'm not gonna sing a song about a girl ... "

A central idea for one 20th century literary theorist's was that meaning gets generated in the gap between the work and the reader's / viewer's understanding. It's the act of bridging the gap that counts. I'll have to go over my old notes and remember whose idea this was. The implication is that "difficulty" in a work is required for it to work at all. If there's no gap, there's no bridging of the gap and no meaning getting made. But if it's too difficult, the reader just gets stuck.

First I saw your Eggleston video, and now these. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this wonderful format. Truly a pleasure to get this sort of content related to photography.

A great master class. Thank you.

I just saw this on Jacob Holdt kzbin.info/www/bejne/al7Tn3qfpZWZbrc&si=mvN32rZ0vPKy9oQX

This was a incredible video. Thank you for sharing your views and passion on Eggleston. It really made appreciate his work even more, especially the Guide.

wow, great pictures

another great video!

Aw, RIP to Angus Cloud from Euphoria (7:19). He died last year, but he was so photogenic - love how he has a full 2 pages in this book. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for posting and an opportunity to look inside of these books, valuable content.

It is an interesting one, I was walking around in the forest near to me taking photos for a project, and I saw something eye-catching, stopped right there and took a pic, then I took another pic but that time I tried to compose it make it better, when I looked back the image the one I tried to compose more lost all the magic that the first image had, it becomes too strait forward... the first one the viewer can see a discovery of something on the second one just the object..

wow

wow, another really interesting one.

thanks for this Alec! really good.

i wish i could afford this because this would be insane!

Thanks - my mind feels larger!

omg!

can't wait to chill at the alec soth crip

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.

Unbelievably stoked to see this post today and THANK GOD it wasn’t just me stumbling over an old post. 😄

This guys just yapping. Also, wanting strangers to stay the night at your house is kinda creepy, wouldn't be surprised if a fair amount of the people who are selected are attractive women (or men or whatever sexual orientation this person leans towards) lmao. On top of that, tuition of 2500 is absolutely insane for a short workshop which is less than 5 days long. This guys going to mske 25k for 4 days of work essentially, and is only offering 1 'partial' scholarship... The whole thing is crazy.

still need more brother❤

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.