Advice For Young Artists

[@kavorka461]

The balloons killed me. It fit so well with Alec as a photographer accidentally creating video art in the spirit of ironic art school aesthetics.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Haha, yes

[@michaeleskudt1400]

Thanks Alec,I’m a 72 year old photographer and this video just shaved 20 years off what I feel like now!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Nice

[@TheBsPresident]

Two videos in one month. You are spoiling us. Keep them coming :)

[@AManWhoWasntThere]

Still one of the only KZbin channels where I will pay attention for the whole video even if it's an hour long. Getting such an intimate insight into your artistic practice is fantastic. Thank you!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks so much

[@marcosdamata8325]

Always a pleasure to hear from you Alec. You're not a KZbinr, you're a role model. Always grateful of you taking some of your time to reach out to us. 🙏

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks so much Marcos

[@MarcoRistuccia]

It's always a pleasure to listen to you explain the feelings, the processes, the ideas and the oddities behind your photography thinking. Very instructive. Thank you!

[@nagynoda3732]

A lot of Alec Soth here. Thank you. KZbin works very well with you because you are good in 1 to 1 things, and so it is.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Interesting comment. Thank you

[@dima.smotrit]

Your art teacher is proud of you, I’m sure. Your art means a lot to me and many others. This video is one of the best so far. I feel ,it’s like a next step of intimacy with a viewer. I am very impressed and feel inspired. Thank you , dear Alec. I see it took you much afford to do this one but it is totally worth it

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Very kind. Thank you Dima

[@baltimorejac]

You may not be the high school art teacher but you’ve helped so many be better ones through your work and generosity.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Means a lot coming from you

[@sagewolfson4411]

I have recently stumbled upon your channel and I am so glad. My professor has spent a year always going back to your work in our class and it is clear as to why. These videos feel like such an educational treat. I love how much care and knowledge that is put into your art! I am an art student currently, a photo major at Parsons. I was so enamored by this book when I first saw it at Strand book store. I can see why now, all the energy and creative ingredients that were put in place, I hope to have creative journeys as well.

[@andrepulfer9339]

I really love that you give out so much interesting inputs, it's just simply amazing. To see the thoughts behind your editing etc. just great, thank you. Plus I love the idea about making super small prints for editing and sequence, definitely gotta try this :)

[@Byeterrance]

Thank you, Alec. Thank you for showing us, men, that it's okay to be vulnerable, and it's okay to express our inner selves. That in turn makes you a teacher, maybe after all you are becoming your high school art teacher.

[@imundo8450]

I am an art student. I listen to these videos and other talks while I do overnight stocking at the pet store I work at now. I went to SAIC full time but experienced some friction in it with life. I kept my practice relatively together though, now I make as many pictures and books & zines as I can in my off time from work. I am currently about to shoddily print my very first book that is solely play. Lots of which are going to friends, family, etc. I would really like to send it to you to have for your library.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Overnight stocking at a pet store is so vivid - there's work to be made from that. Feel free to send your zine. The address is on my website. Thank you

[@francescoconti5993]

These videos are the best thing on KZbin also because they feature one of the most authoritative voices on photography books. please, if you have time and pleasure, keep making them!

[@peterppw]

Oh my, a big thank you for all this non-advice advice - I was lucky to briefly watch you work at a Magnum portrait event, the playfulness and the seriousness are real! Happily for me, you were unwittingly giving advice to an old artist, and after watching this video I can remember the experience with a brighter clarity.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks so much Peter. I really enjoyed out time together.

[@gottanikoncamera]

You’ve inspired me to try a new things. I’d just picked up a Fuji X100VI and was thinking of selling it but while watching your film, I realized it was the perfect camera to experiment with because it does do many things well, and easily. In fact, about 2/3s of the way through your video, I paused it and ran around the house shooting things with flash, which I never use. So glad you’re back on KZbin sharing with us.

[@rafaelmalvar]

This was such a good hour of thinking about how photography change inside if us, so refreshing to think some of us are in our teenaging years as were getting older, so well said. Keep them coming Alec ⭐

[@zachlozano7432]

Once again thanks Alec, I hope you eventually go back and revisit your older work in this same format just beautiful to hear your insights and process in such depth. Thanks again.

[@barnesd4]

when you busted out those mini-prints, i gasped with excitement. i literally just did this for the first time recently for a project i am working on. it was so helpful in visualizing the work, editing, and focusing on the work in the “real world”.

[@maxlieberman108]

Thanks Alec! Great post... as usual. Keep rambling!

[@morganmueller3020]

William Christenberry's influence on Walker Evans' decision to start making Polaroid images and Evans' influence on Christenberry to start making more formal large format work is one of my favorite bits of Southern photo lore!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Ah, interesting!

[@fauveothon3068]

Another great video, Alec! You're definitely not talking to yourself in your library, we are listening and very attentively.

[@yogurette8831]

Dear Alec, I am an art student myself (in my first year) and at the moment struggling a lot with it. This video was really insightful about your book but also about some processes artists may go trough. I am not sure why, but this gave me a lot of comfort! When I lent ping pong conversations from a library I was really impressed about how you are trying to make people understand your work. I value this a lot since it's breaking the hierarchy of the producer and the consumer. Thank you also it's funny that other people falls asleep to these videos. I can recognize myself a lot in this.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thank you. Don't let the struggle get you too down!

[@neeravnaik]

I think you are being your art teacher like you want to through these videos. It is a learning experience to understand someone’s thoughts about his own or others work in this free form relaxed manner. It makes the art accessible to not so young beginners like me. Also loved your line about feeling like being a teenager of old age. That makes me at 46 a child :)

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Ha! And thank you

[@fabriziomaestroni7313]

Thank you for your videos Alec! Watched it from start to finish without falling asleep! :)

[@SergioPontillo]

First, I didn't know people watch your videos as ASMR for falling asleep; for me, it's quite the opposite, I watch them with my maximum attention. And this one was special, if not the best you've ever made. So many great intuitions, and so well expressed. When you talked about your road trips with Carmen, it reminded me of The Sopranos episode (Season 1, episode 5) where Tony and her daughter Meadow take a road trip to visit various colleges she's considering. During the trip she asks him if he's in the mafia, that is, she asks him about his work! Funny parallel. Also, Nathan Fielder is a magnificent mind. Your work plus these videos are greatly appreciated and respected, and you exposing yourself in both of these practices may not only be very important to you, but also very inspiring to me and to many more. I really related to what you said in those last 30 seconds. I shall do that. Thank you, Alec!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks Sergio. I love that moment in The Sopranos! I appreciate your comments a lot.

[@ebifurai415]

I still have my Ohio zine. I saw you speak at OU that year. Very memorable for me back when I was in photo school!

[@synlfo7828]

This was awesome. Personal and awakening. Thank you

[@coffeepyros]

I'm very interested in photography for 25+ years now (I'm 45). Never studied it, but attended one semester-long evening workshops at the local art school for the last 9 years. I feel very connected to this project/book. The young students, the trying out things, discovering other peoples work, group discussions, thinking about projects. One thing I forgot during all the self improvement: also having fun. Thanks for the reminder!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

It's a lesson I have to keep relearning. Thanks for you comment

[@simonaramponi]

I love watching your videos, Alec. This is no exception (and the balloons! 😂) You are truly inspiring mostly because YOU HAVE FUN and I love it so much. Thank you

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks so much Simona. 🎈

[@marcripper]

Random balloons were for the non-sleepers. Thanks for spending the time on this deep dive.

[@dgorenc66]

I must agree with this video as I am watching it at 3 am and not falling asleep. It resonates for me some of my inner desires for expression . I am 58 years young lol ..but having the curse or the blessing of developing my photographic eye since 1983 from Highscool darkroom ...then having life twist me around ...and finally waking up photographily speaking in 2016 in the digital world. Simply this video has given more fruits to go out and create...live long and photograph Sir ...thank you

[@AlecSothYouTube]

"having life twist me around" --- a great way to put it. Wishing you best on your journey.

[@pabloliviero]

So inspiring, thanks a lot for this, regards from Argentina !

[@richarddewit5993]

Wonderful. Thank you.

[@hoagyguitarmichael]

Thank you so much for taking the time to make these videos.

[@trumancapote8083]

Thank you, Alec. I appreciate it

[@pthompson]

I have been obsessed with Walker's Polaroids for years. A few years ago, I uploaded a cache of them to the Internet Archive, and had toyed with the idea of making my own book of them, too! The Scalo edition is very underwhelming. I love yours.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Nice to hear. Thanks

[@jebtheghillie4512]

I live for these.

[@GIOMACHAVARIANII]

Your sound system sounds like ASMR and visual looks like documentary theatre❤

[@PatyLavir]

Your videos are so inspiring to me. I LOVE to watch. And it was funny. The time passed by without noticing it.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks so much Paty

[@ralf.mueller]

Lovely, thanks for this Alec. The image at 12:00 somehow reminded me of Evelyn Hofer's "Girl with Bicycle" image, a modern version of it I'd say.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Oh yeah, was definitely riffing off that

[@mr_mr]

very helpful, thank you

[@matthewjeffries4621]

I watch alot of KZbin, especially photo related. I enjoy yours the most. Thank you.

[@ЛазарПопов-л7в]

can you recommend some photo related YT channels?

[@yogurette8831]

@@ЛазарПопов-л7в there is only one other that I consider of good quality and it is Bryan Birks. Literally everything else I discovered over the last 2 years is trying to sell you some product, or and this is even more true, is trying to sell you their videos.

[@PatrickDodds1]

@@ЛазарПопов-л7в Try AOWS or James Popsys maybe? Depends what you like to photograph - most channels just try and get you hooked on gear, these two don't. Good luck!

[@marutoardi6604]

​@@ЛазарПопов-л7в StrudelmediaLive is such a gem! I just discovered it last week. Got hooked on 'The Photobook Show with Stevan Frank' and now I'm exploring more of their videos.

[@rogerhyland8283]

Thanks Alec. You didnt solve anything for me but I felt better after I watched.

[@bartkrezolek8838]

Many thank! You lit my fire again!

[@colinmcentee4132]

Thank you!

[@glennmcdonnell8375]

Thank you Alec.

[@marklevine1100]

As always, your film was mind expanding. I found it to be really interesting, especially the way you used pictures to illustrate the concept of the struggle of the artist to energize, grow and evolve. Picasso somehow achieved that, perhaps by surrounding himself with young women! I also found it interesting that your idea started with the concept of goth and horror culture, and in the end portrayed a vampire like quest to absorb some of the energy of youth. Walker Evans almost got it right. In his later years he started working in a totally new format, freeing him up from heavy equipment. Perhaps it was for health reasons, but the problem is he still shot Walker Evans pictures.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks. But I think a lot of those late-Evans are truly fantastic

[@aditudose4762]

Beautiful

[@AshleyNagrom]

This is terrific I have a signed copy of House of Coates, I love it and I love the work you did with Brad...Thank you!!!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thank you!

[@peterwear5033]

you spoke at breck in 2009ish when I was 15 about sleeping by the mississippi and I got a camera a few weeks later that winter inspired by this idea that I could just take photos of strangers. I was too scared to do it at the time, but that bottom of the barrel Best Buy camera accompanied me to college and got a lot of use. The freedom of that idea that a person could just make art like that was so important to me (and got me into a little trouble in high school, nothing serious 🤣) I don’t want to be parasocial about it but I’ve wanted to thank you for speaking back then for a long time - it took me from hatred to love of life.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Oh my gosh. How great. Thank you for sharing that with me.

[@simonberry1977]

Came for the book analysis✅Stayed for the balloon party✅🎈🤓👍

[@chewaldi]

Favorite part was the flying bubbles!! 😂

[@AlecSothYouTube]

ha, yes

[@mikoajstarzynski3738]

as always - thank You for doing that

[@horaciomillan4181]

Hello my admired friend. I am not young anymore, but in many ways I’m a beginner, so I take your advise for me. So thank you.

[@caryconover]

I liked the line about how the earnestness of shooting 8x10 somehow felt inauthentic

[@alexlove6166]

Would be great if you managed to publish your Walker Evans edit. Really grabbed me. I’d part with some coin for that visual delight.

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thanks!

[@bensvideohomesystem]

this is great thanks

[@bluewordsme2]

BRILLIANT VIDEO...'teenager for old age'--exactly how i feel alec (since finally, my first book will be publ in 2025, at the ripe old age of late 50s lol)...and i LOVE THIS BOOK and this deep dive and will share w/my students...btw, i HAVE a copy of Trent's LBM book Bedknobs & broomsticks (LOVE)...AND I have and love broken manual (miss lester too and his caves, lol )...ok, so the book is brilliant looking...and so playful and random and in many ways the ANTITHESIS of advice--as the connectivity page is seemingly random and yet has the same freedom that a child has when they make, same beauties and the same failures (like that ohio pictures are magnificent and more 'powerful/beautiful' than most in Advice and yet, their playfulness and failures is in fact brilliant advice--to play to discover making within the process and builoding, not in the intial conceiving.....its all in your book...and may i suggest one last reaction alec to looking at this books and your description of the book and looking at the pics....it is actually ADVICE FOR YOU...not advice as an artist but advice for you to cope with the inevitable: death and loss and grief, which comes through the front door much faster as we age...it feels like a book to prepare for loss, profound loss....but with a rich and loving heart.....last thing, i have always loved the work you did with carmen, Brighton Picture Hunt and with Gus bright bunny boy...it inspired a project my ex and i did with our son...and i hope your students look up Brighton Picture Hunt & bright bunny boy...and of course your books on bogota where i believe, if i remember, you adopted carmen....anyway, much love...your thee best late-age teenager, i know.....happy new year, bb

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Damn, you know a lot. Thanks for this Bob

[@bluewordsme2]

@@AlecSothKZbin well, not really...just been looking and loving photography books for a long long time...and if i may be frank, you know a fair bit too Alec, and i actually learned A LOT from reading your old LBM posts back in the day where you describe and analyze books you love--invaluable way for me to think about my own work all those years...anyway, ya got a heart of gold and a brain of titanium...on a separate note, i LOVE that Cristina is the Prez--another brilliant thinker and person with a great heart....ok, HAPPY NEW YEAR...off formorning walk, bb

[@johnbarben]

I’ve been trying to mentally capture the feeling I want to have as I finish my working life and focus on my photographic journey - and the phrase “second teenage” is the nearest I’ve got to encapsulating how I feel - in so many ways which includes positive (openness to experience, desire to learn) and challenging (working out an identity, constant desire to change). I want to find a community of 60 yo teenagers / outsiders - is it online? or in the UK…

[@AlecSothYouTube]

I don't know the answer, but it's clear that there are a lot of people who share your desire for such a community.

[@bluewordsme2]

alec, you know one of my university professors once told me in a film class, 'if you're done before the 47th take, ya aint done...make it restful, above all else...' you are THE BEST...ok, now, let me watch....bob 😍

[@bluewordsme2]

omg, alec, i just realized a think i'd forgotten to tell ya when we fist met in toronto and had a drink at that bar on Ossington (when i gave ya the Burman book), YOUR VOICE sounds exactly like a friend, david foster wallace (yes,that dave)....i thought the same then...and now and i once teased him that the way he pronounced 'HORROR' sounded exactly like 'WHORE' OMG..and when i heard you describe 'horror film convention' i thought you said "whore film convention', like wth is that kind of convention hahhahah...btw, OHIO looks extraordinary...i miss LBM so much.....bb

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Ha, I've had that problem with 'horror' a number of times!

[@bluewordsme2]

@@AlecSothKZbin hahah...just add another syllable to the old mid-western world...as i tell my students--just a little elongation hahahahah.....when i first heard 'horror film convention' hahahahha...bb

[@linhou9945]

Same here-I let out a dramatic sigh and bam! A swarm of thumbs-down started flying up my screen🤣

[@CristianGeelen]

These are the best :)

[@richarddewit5993]

Did someone explain the balloons? The recording device - perhaps webex - provides them after 'recognizing' your fingers as making a victory sign, a V. It's useless and wonderful.

[@garonkiesel1646]

23:11 Can you explain? I see absolutely no correlation. The black-and-white statue image has harsh studio lighting from the right. The image of the girl with headphones has natural light, totally diffused. Am I missing something?

[@AlecSothYouTube]

That was my point. While I like the picture of the girl, I realized it wasn't the feeling I wanted to express.

[@garonkiesel1646]

Thank you. That makes sense. I watched that sequence five times and couldn’t make any correlation. It makes sense now. Thanks again.

[@Iamsolcosta]

Love watching your videos. I just wished my millennial mind wouldn’t wish for it to be a 20 min long video with all the goodies compressed in it 😂

[@AlecSothYouTube]

You don't have to be a millennial to feel that way!

[@matthewpoburyny5147]

Long live the balloon party!

[@1825OREO]

I am wondering if the you think about getting commercial job of $10 or 20 thousand day rate when you shoot a project? What motivates you? Just pure fun or money is the final goal?

[@AlecSothYouTube]

If you are referring to the Re-Edition shoot, I assure you it was a fraction of that amount of money.

[@LIQUIDxOCELOT93]

i like the coach red pill type thumbnails

[@Nitidus]

Those "bubbles" made my day, hahahaha

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Ha, yes, I was so dumbfounded I couldn't the words

[@_o__o_]

44:06 funniest thing I have seen in forever

[@AlecSothYouTube]

I still have no clue what happened. Haha!

[@tonyparatore888]

😊👋👋👋👋👋👋👋

[@francisbombus3949]

for my taste a fantastic portrait 13:30

[@kevinscotton]

Just an early comment for the video’s interaction, will return to this when finished listening 🤓

[@kevinscotton]

Back with some thoughts!! I really appreciated the timeline of work that came before Advice for Young Artists, and experiencing how those earlier projects and experiments shaped what the book came to be. It’s a great reminder that everything we do has value to be found. Similarly, hearing about your sense of cringe humor, the inside jokes, and even the video with the balloon technical difficulties offers a nice perspective on how our own personalities influence the work. The concept of the project as well, selling a book called Advice for Young Artists and then saying “advice doesn’t really work” in the video, and not actually having much in the book’s content. It’s clear how much thought has been put into it. Flipping through the book myself while listening was a cherry on top. I’m sure this will have a similar influence on my future work as Walker Evan’s did to you. Thank you 🤓

[@francisbombus3949]

Vielen Dank!

[@RoomRar]

came for art book, left with balloon party!

[@AlecSothYouTube]

hehe

[@justanotherdiamondday]

Accept Yourself by The Smiths? 😮❤

[@AlecSothYouTube]

YES!

[@PaulAlabama]

What an amazing deep dive into this project. Loved every second of this video. Thank you for being you

[@AlecSothYouTube]

Thank you Paul

[@TheQuietPages]

another banger............is what the kids would say.

[@LuiwiOficial]

1h long advice here we go

[@GIOMACHAVARIANII]

♥️📔📔🎄💫

[@siddharthahajra4720]

Everything you say is delicious food for me.

[@garyisaacs6526]

take care of your teeth . . . .

[@TheLily97232]

Your mind is fascinating