Garry Winogrand MIT Q&A with Winogrand Photographs

This Q&A took place at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974.
The lecture was taken from here 2point8.whilese...
The manuscript can also be found on the website.
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What is Book Flip, Book Flip for You?
"Book Flip, a book Flip For You" exists to expose (if not seen before) some photography work to the public (meaning probably to 1 or 2 of you) to books in the genre of Street photography and it's close siblings, social landscape and documentary photography. Other genres will be flipped for the sake of learning from that genre. Some of these photo-books have received little airplay, some a lot of depending on the certain period of time. My choice of the photo-books are subjective, from my own bent. Street photography (whether you like that term or not) is the greatest photographic genre of all time. These book flips will consist of books that I particularly appreciate and enjoy or photo books that I thought were okay yet thought photographers could learn from. Why did he/she choose to sequence this way? And many more questions that the viewer can ask. Some of the photographic poetry are in your face, some are intentionally subtle, some very serious, others pun-filled, some brilliant, some stray from photographic cliches, and some all the above.

[@watchingthestuff]

Thanks for digging it out and putting it online

[@CooksterzLittlefield]

I enjoy his NY'er brash answers because it was how he felt, and i think i would of also gotten a little impatient with explaining what i like to to, with any reason or in any comprehensive way. You can hear his gentle thoughts coming through, along with his ego! "There is only photography. It doesn't matter what camera it was done with." -GW

[@cindylawrence1515]

Gary's work covering the New York 1970 Hard Hat demonstrations are real classics.

[@paspartu2453]

I found his work great. As a character, reminds me of Bruce gilden, with whom I see mild perceptive streaks when it comes to people and the environment within which they are.

[@ronancollett-baritone]

'Still photography is the clumsiest way to exercise imagination to illustrate literary ideas. Anybody with a pencil beats you. Period. It's tantamount to driving a nail in with a saw when you can use a hammer.' Gary Winogrand

[@CreativeLeadershipwithDaniel]

Bruh! that Ralph Gibson burn. @30:00 I think this really encompasses this whole talk and reveals more about Winogrand's way of seeing.

[@a.j.fontana]

Ralph actually has a Winogrand quote about his work in the back of his book "Deus Ex Machina". "Guys like you are what is wrong with photography.". It seems like he appreciated the quote or at least found it funny. It's included among quotes from other photographers he had talked to and said he agreed with everything they said. Love both of their work! Garry's jab at the titles was hilarious.

[@Zecamilleo]

Garry is the king

[@CRJines]

Gary had some awesome shots!

[@simonkeslake2782]

Great video..shame we missed the Nun story at the end!!

[@philhodges8773]

This man doesn't pretend that there's much thought behind his photography. Which is probably why he can't talk about it well. In that sense he's an unsuccessful artist but obviously his work has been liked and interpreted in a positive way.

[@kilnsandclay]

Photography isn't about thought and much less about concepts - photography is about the apparent illusion of reality created by the camera. There is a wonderful transformation from subject to object - Isn't that enough?

[@chrisdonahue]

how an artist talks about their work is completely immaterial from the work itself

[@kilnsandclay]

not always but I will agree about this in terms of photography and especially Winogrand

[@sjones1017]

I know this started a year back, but Phil, did it occur to you that some pursue photography as a way to communicate in lieu of verbal expression? And why should any artist have to explicate what is often more reactionary in the visceral and perhaps even ineffable. Assigning reason, symbolism, inspiration, and/or meaning is often irrelevant in light of the art’s overall compelling function. And how do you define “unsuccessful”, because, whether you personally like his work or not, Winogrand has objectively proven influential and has garnered praise from many notable photographers. He established a unique signature, which is remarkably difficult in photography. So I would think that he’s pretty damn successful, especially given that he did not follow a conventional or formulaic approach.

[@TheLily97232]

@@kilnsandclayI know right....... the way we transform and shape reality with the recording of light, color, shapes and more is the point.

[@thee_salmon]

Who was the first photographer he was asked about?

[@chrisdonahue]

He first mentioned Robert Frank.. then Walker Evans...he was also asked about Jerry Uelsmann

[@blood_n_guts_murphy]

Cant hear it

[@darryld9719]

Better off to watch on mute......He sure does has to get paid to be able to sit there and listen to a bunch of dumb ass questions.....wow...and then he has to answer them...lol

[@jackthecat6225]

Such poor questions.

[@merlinalfonso6374]

But some good ones too.

[@nocommentnoname1111]

Unfortunately, for the most part, his work just doesn't work for me - it just doesn't do anything for me.

[@chrisdonahue]

then unfortunately you understand very little about photography

[@fra91_]

unfortunately, you need to study a lot

[@Bardamu3000]

fortunately, we don't give a ****

[@nocommentnoname1111]

@@Bardamu3000 Ah, all the haters of divergent points of view are out - true liberal thinking. Well, maybe you should send your 10 yr old nieces out there with a camera and have her take a few hundred thousand shots and I am certain they'll end up with at least a handful of "good" shots. Winogrand is not "grand" - he's no Cartier-Bresson, no Koudelka, not even Alex Webb.

[@johnfitzgerald7618]

@@nocommentnoname1111 And Winogrand's ideas seem to imply that it's up to the viewer to decide whether a photograph is good or not. He took what interested him, so why should it interest you? Photography isn't a religion, there is no dogma, there is no reason to treat dissenters as sinners.