How To Read A Photograph

[@NatyMidnight]

I always feel like I’m in a hall with one of the top Photography professors when you do these more theoretical/ history based videos. It takes me outside of the KZbin photography/ videography bubble (which I do love as well) but so heavily based on landscape/travel/ big adventures rather than developing ones eye/creativity even in the most mundane situations.

[@evandouglas9310]

More of these please! Or even deeper dives into individual photos

[@julianleshay3459]

Absolutely. A deep dive into individual photos would so cool to hear!

[@PhilKnall]

Ted did a bunch of those in the early days of AoP! So good.

[@emilyslittlebooknook-8043]

Yes please

[@heilandgunner]

This was a great video, Ted. I started watching your iTunes videos years ago and was enthralled with your knowledge and ability to communicate about photography and its greatest exponents. This was a refreshing return to those days about the true art of photography, the heart of photography. More of these and fewer equipment reviews would be gratefully appreciated. It's not the camera, it's the photographer that makes the image.

[@jh5401]

My Grandad was not a photographer and was not classically an artist, but the way you do things really reminds me of him. Thanks for your videos, I really appreciate being able to feel closer to my dead grandfather!

[@jamesurzykowski4918]

As most people I enjoy a good photograph. I recently saw an interview with Rachael Talibart. She is a very smart woman who used to teach law at the university level. Because of her love for photography she made it her new career. I bought, what I guess, is her latest book called “Tides and Tempests”. A photograph is a slice of time and I find hers amazing. She lives near the ocean thus her interests. Rachael doesn’t shoot time exposures she shoots violent storms. Thanks for another great Art of Photography!

[@parsias5381]

I really enjoy these types of videos!!! Theory, history and inspiration to practice.

[@arndtbc]

The Art of Photography, YES!!! I love this type of content! Thank you for making such a great video. This type of content inspires me to get excited about photography all over again.

[@makasii]

I just found your account 2 days ago and I'd like to thank you for your very hard work and amazing content. I've been taking pictures for a little more than 3 decades, started with a Pentax P30N. My dad, grandfather, uncle were all in photography, all from prestigious school in Paris, but somehow, I never learned from them. with digital photography, my passion for this art became an obsession, so far that I've now been traveling exclusively for it, 6-7 months per year, one country after the other (mainly in Asia for the last 6 years) and am now based in Thailand, where I'm sorting and editing 158'000 pictures of my archives. Cartier Bresson, Avedon, Kertész, Georges Eastman or painter like Toulouse Lautrec, have always inspired me, and finding your channel rejuvenate the desire to get deeper into it, get back to the ART and away to the destroying influence of social medias, especially considering the collapse of Instagram and Co. again, thx a lot for lighting the flame again :-)

[@Grievas85]

The experience that you put in your videos - I'm talking about experience with photography - and the informations that you can give to your audience is always... amazing. Thanks for your videos, Ted!

[@James-tt7vg]

Pollock has the most perplexing composition of them all....And the most Beautiful !

[@tofulosophy]

Hey Ted, feel free to ignore that little voice that says 'this video is getting too long' and just have at it. Some of my favorite KZbin videos are the ones that are 30min+ which allows me to fully immerse myself in any given topic. Indulge us!!

[@bazzathegreat3517]

I really didn't get the photo at first but Joe Louis' fist makes all the difference. Stravinsky's arm is so key to that Newman picture. He turned Stravinsky into a shape. Jackson Pollock is a genius but you have to experience his art in person. I didn't get Pollock until I actually saw one up close.

[@radugheorghe2596]

The Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph at 7:23 was taken on an overnight train in Romania. I used to ride one of those trains about once a year, visiting family across the country.

[@NPJensen]

Thank you for this. Reviews of lenses, cameras and phones are fine, but it's your videos like this one, that keeps me coming back. Composition is the difference maker in my book. You can master every other aspect of photography, but if your composition is (in lack of a better word) weak, the image probably won't capture interest - unless you caught something or someone sensational with your camera.

[@MegaBriarpatch]

I think you're the only photographer I've NEVER met, who continues to give me a such fresh perspective with your insights. Thanks for always generously and passionately communicating your knowledge! It's inspiring!

[@chepo1956]

Hi Ted, Jose from Puerto Rico. You and Hugh Brownstone are my favorite Photography scholars. There is another young woman who has a KZbin channel, and she goes by the name T, Hopper who dives deep into the history of Photography. Her views on the subject are wonderful. Having said that, I never get tired of watching your content man! Getting better in the art of Photography is always a great goal; but you articulate it in a way that makes the journey to that goal enjoyable.

[@chessoptics]

thanks for the other references to the photographers im very grateful

[@antfirmin]

The Arnold Newman photograph is interesting for a number of reasons - it was shot on large format and there is a contact sheet which shows the whole set of images. It also shows the pre crop of this image, but the crop works so well with lines, triangles and rule of thirds. I would truly love a print of that image.

[@artbybaz7060]

I like how you not only talked about composition and being intentional with the framing but you practice it. The way you set up your desk and framed your background with a view through to the double French doors. How that splits the left and right side of your background with negative space and blank wall on the left. Nice 😊

[@Muscaaria]

I missed these kind of videos! More of them, please 🤗

[@rejeannantel1185]

I agree with you Ted about the Mona Lisa. This painting was much overlooked before the mid-19th century and it’s theft by a Louvre employee in 1911 made it famous exposing it to the entire world. As for her smile, many of Da Vinci’s woman have very similar ones. Adding to that is the fact that Da Vinci has painted four Mona Lisas, each exposed in different museums around the world. But as we know, there is only one with a great past history that many acclaim, i.e. the one in the Louvre. I’m a fan of museums and I wasn’t surprised of the result. My guess was 5 to 7 seconds - which is a shame. As for your subject this week, it’s one of my favorite one. “How to Read a Photograph”. Definitely composition and aesthetics play a vital role and I can’t help remembering Henri-Cartier Bresson’s method to judge if a composition works or not when he inverse an image - to identify if dark and light masses do their work by bringing the viewer inside the image. It’s a worthwhile method. I think one can learn composition faster when working with Still Life. You have the ability to interact with each object to create a worthwhile composition. You learn what is distracting, and you understand the value of space and geometry. Thanks for a great video Ted!

[@ShaneBaker]

Terrific video, Ted. I'm sure many would appreciate more of these sorts of pieces. BTW, I love your story about the B&W photograph that drew you in! :-)

[@ghanshyamsingh3653]

The education and intention here...best quality stuff...wish I was so learned in photography and the intention of it. But I'm not giving up. Love the content.

[@martinesquives6152]

Loved this video. I didn’t think it was too long at all. I really love when you dive into the art of photography it’s one of the main reason I always look forward to your videos. We are standing on the shoulders of giants and most of us aren’t even aware of it. Keep enlighten us please and stay safe

[@marialucia1010]

How to read a photograph - I think we need to learn this skill spending more time observing and paying attention to the environment in order to make better compositions.

[@CalumetVideo]

Hard to believe I have been watching your videos for over 10 years. A lot has changed since then. Today, we are more dependent on cameras on phones, on demand etc. I don’t think many stop and just absorb the art for more than 3 seconds due to people being inundated with photos on Instagram etc. People today want everything on the fly.

[@FilmCameraObsession]

Great episode. Before the pandemic, I would carve out time to go to the library to leaf through photo books. Everything you mentioned I would get out of those sessions. Thank you for bringing that exercise back to me.

[@LuisGGomezPhoto]

Ted, thanks for your teachings. I found this video very interesting.

[@TarotTrismagistus]

No, please expand! That’s why I love watching your channel! Give us the in depth info & outlook! The longer, the better😉

[@charleshacker765]

Thanks for not altering despite the medium of KZbin. There are some who appreciate your depth. I for one, was always the one getting lost from my group in the museum because they took so little time to take in the art.

[@Canadapt]

I understood in a revelatory way that a photograph can be a work of art when I first saw Eugene Smith's 'Walk to Paradise Garden' - that was 53 years ago, I was 14 years old and I haven't stopped photographing since.

[@davidbrighten2572]

This is great Ted. More of this (and less of the gear reviews) please. I really miss your educational videos.

[@jonathanjones4566]

Your's is the ONLY channel that discusses photography without droning on and on about gear.

[@philipshucet9481]

Ted, thanks for this. Wonderful issues for consideration. As a photographer, I find myself often starting with the fourth point, “what moves you (me).” As you mentioned, sometimes there’s an anticipation of something happening that will move us. Those moments require great patience to sit and wait. I also appreciate what you said about the woodshed. The first few times I went into our back courtyard, I didn’t see a damn thing. But I kept going out and suddenly there were moments all around. And they moved me! Since beginning my journey in photography, I’ve become a much better viewer of art. It’s a reciprocal relationship I find very rewarding.

[@MathieuPhotoArt]

Excellent talk. About exploring your yard, last year I did just that, saw a ladybug in a tree and litteraly ended up spending 2 days photographing ladybugs and wasps in the leaves.

[@British99]

Great video again Ted. This past year has made me a bit of a recluse, and if I wasn’t a key worker and have interaction with people I would probably have gone mad! I’m lucky enough to have some great countryside on my doorstep, so I go out on my bicycle and take photos on my iPhone. I also live in an old market town with interesting buildings, and love to go out with my ’proper’ camera and capture their timeless charm. I always feel inspired after watching your videos.

[@bruce-le-smith]

fantastic stuff, take all the time you want to dive into this stuff, maybe the youtube culture will learn to slow down and get into some complex ideas

[@carfierro]

What moves me? Reality and honesty in photos, W. Eugene Smith, Salgado. The Afghan girl image is the one that got me interested in photography, have several copies of that issue.

[@gnuhapi]

Excellent video, Ted. It brought back memories of a photography class assignment back in '69 or '70. We were to sit somewhere nondescript and bring back at least one frame which pleased the instructor. We were limited to a normal lens, black and white, a 36 shot roll and a 12-foot radius. This current situation has given me a lot of time to think creatively in limited circumstance and I am eager to practice it when "normal" returns.

[@DanielM1224]

This is possibly the channel/person I've learned most about photography. Thank you.

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Great, great, great! Love these deeper videos :D

[@stigmatedbrain]

Indeeeeeeeed

[@jtr200747]

May I recommend “Understanding a Photograph” by John Berger? It gives you an other view on photos.

[@bananabear009]

This is what this channel should be. Photography, not camera 📸

[@aishwaryasawant7287]

Thanks for the video Ted, got an exam tomorrow, studying semiotics, and this video has somewhat been helpful ❤

[@knightphox]

I loved the pace of this. I was captured through and through. Adding my like midway through

[@Goalieswede]

This is my favorite type of content that you make, and it's unique among other photography channels.

[@jimwlouavl]

Thanks for these insights. It’s clear that you think deeply about your art and it’s great that you share that.

[@romaerb4161]

Thank you for this from a light sculptor who feels as if I am going blind among the virtual brain dead in the Show Me state!!!! Your videos have sharpened my focus as I stand firm at the sidelines armed with my camera to shoot the Truth of a moment in a story. If I hook an eye with my work, for more than three seconds, I know my work called out to a Soul that sees the same language of myself I can only speak through the parts of me I leave in an image, with no intention of doing so. Thank you for the front yard assignment. All roads lead to Me.

[@carnival5963]

Whenever I sing ... As a vocalist and a guitarist my aim is to deliver an emotion and everything follows up ...if you know what I mean !

[@Dan-C-71]

Love this. Looked for that book, The Decisive Moment”, $570 on Amazon 😳

[@philipu150]

Hi, Ted. I know this is an old thread; I don;t know if you still see new comments from it. Speaking of composition, I'd like to offer for your consideration Rodney Smith's book on Israel, Land of Light, an early work, B&W, made with a Leica and a 50mm lens, for reasons he gives in the Epilogue. This is an underappreciated work of considerable power that gives an insight into a man who was a deeper thinker, as one interview made at his home by another photographer makes clear (I can''t relocate it now), than some of his later work might suggest.

[@rembeadgc]

It's an interesting thing to be aware of...not only the amount of time people spend looking at a work of art, but WHY they are looking at it; what they are trying to accomplish in that span of time. A long look doesn't necessarily mean an enriching look. Then again, not everyone is looking to be enriched. Of course, you'd need to define enrichment or find out what it constitutes for a given individual. A short look isn't necessarily a shallow look. Questions of "what does the artwork resonate with inside the individual?" arise. When that resonance occurs, what does the viewer do with it, how do they choose to respond to it? The questions go very deep because human beings are complex, but simple at the same time. I would argue that the degree to which we try to avoid the simplicity , or to which the simplicity is circumvented, is the degree to which we are complex.

[@PatrickDodds1]

Thanks for producing this Ted.

[@perhaldariana9485]

Dear Ted, thank You for the help in these years and lately. Many of your advices helped me. Actually I started To take care of the way I want To photograph, observing, following the process; thank You, Ted, for your help, Ariana

[@DeonMitton]

Great video - and especially the idea of "exploring your front yard" - I've been doing exactly that - and not Macro, but making videos of the nature around the house. There's so much going on, if only you sit still for a while, and observe the animal life. I've decided to create meditation videos, doing ultra slow (not timelapse) macro of plants - but in a way, that it feels like a discovery ride. I had to build my own camera rig, to accomplish this, and in the process, learnt a thing or two about microcontrollers, stepper motors, and image stabilization - to name a few ... a really fun discovery journey, and so rewarding...

[@michaelcgannon]

I think it's very important to revisit this particular subject. Especially for the people who spend longer than 3 seconds understanding art : )

[@Micah-Woods]

I definitely appreciate this video and message so to speak. This really has me thinking about my own perception and how to better convey visual communication!

[@larsbunch]

I got a chance to see a print by Minor White at the Norton Simon just before the pandemic started. I was amazed by the very subtle control of tone in this abstract of burnt, peeling paint. I’ve been frustrated that I can’t go back to look at it again, but my memory of that print challenges me to work harder in the darkroom. I’ve never been very good at “reading” a photograph. I rarely get much of an idea or a “statement” from an image. Rather, I try to be open to whatever emotional state the image gives me. I’m usually more excited by strong graphic composition. (One of the few truly visceral experiences I’ve had to a work of art was upon seeing one of Franz Kline’s giant calligraphic paintings at the end of a long hall in a museum). When it comes to how long I might look at a work, I’ll spend more time in a museum when I know my time with it is limited. When it’s in my house, whether on the wall or in a book, I might glance at it for a second or so. Rarely longer. When Ted Forbes suggested studying Josef Sudek a year ago, I looked at one image for over an hour, recording my thoughts to an audio file. I enjoy this kind of analytical exploration of an image, but I’m not sure I know it any better when I’m done. Yes, I have a better sense of how the image was created and how the composition works, but my emotional response to the image is much the same as when I first saw it. Anyway, I think art is best experienced by living with it every day. Museums are valuable in that they allow us to see originals that we would never have access to otherwise. But having prints on the wall that I might only glance at briefly a few times in a day and less often if it’s in a book, allows me to look at the same image from different states of mind. I once looked through a collection of one of my favorite photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work and was bored and annoyed by it all. It was a valuable experience because it showed me just how much state of mind can affect perception. Images must be lived with. The ability to return to an image that was once boring allows you to learn and grow with the image. And an image I might once have admired might grow lifeless upon repeated viewing. I think the best images continue to give me a strong emotional reaction - maybe not the same one I had when I first saw the image, but still an experience nevertheless.

[@edgardomanuel7524]

Great stuff! I’m so glad I checked your vlog/video. One of your very best. Thank you for sharing.

Excellent video Ted. Hopefully you keep bringing us your knowledge, which is so much more valuable than another camera review. All the best

[@Biker_Gremling]

YESSSS!!!! AN ACTUAL VIDEO ABOUT ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY!!!!

[@bigshooter461]

Great video, I feel like some of the most increadible times I ever spent shooting was in highschool when we would get assignments and had to go out and capture images that explored a specific design ellement or use a specific type of composition we would have to shoot 1 roll of film and each frame had to be a carefully composed and exposed image. We went on to creative projects shooting slide presentations that we would put to music. I think the assignments were such a valuable part of my education both in part because it influenced how I looked through the lens to compose and how I saw others work.

[@williaminbody205]

Photography is definitely art, which means there will always be someone who likes and someone who doesn’t. Of all the people on KZbin photography channels yours is were one might learn photography.

[@gavinmcguire1746]

Excellent wrap Ted during difficult times. Thanks.

[@michaellakey3565]

A perceptive title can add great psychological depth to an otherwise ordinary photograph or sculpture ( Duchamp's output for example ) London Dada's nuanced images go beyond the retinal.

[@Hawksnest1022]

Loved the topic once again! This is off subject but being a Dallas native and still living here I was hoping you could point me in the direction of a local camera shop that is open to an intermediate shooter that may have questions some people do not. I have been to a shop in downtown Dallas, won't say names, but they are just not as friendly to someone like myself that may have multiple questions about something they may see as a waste of time. I know you know what shop I am talking about so I am hoping you have another local spot that I could visit and not feel as if I am a burden to the staff. I have money to spend I just want to make sure it's spent the most effective way. Thank you and I hope you see this as I respect your opinion very much so!

[@DavidBrookover]

Excellent clip Ted. Inspirational indeed.

[@pederkristensen4691]

Great video and that offers stimulating thoughts. Can watch this episode over and over again and take time to contemplating each of your points, and more than 3 sec..

[@Dr.GeoDave]

Well done. Thinking about photographs seems more and more to be key to improving one’s own photography.

[@ZELOHIMX]

Incredible! Can you get back to more of this types of topics @theartofphotography?

[@chpmr]

Hi, Ted. Thanks for another great video. You mentioned looking at the photos... so my question is where to look for a photos to look at? Is there a comprehensive and friendly intro to the history of photography?

[@sholombrummel3732]

Thank you so much for always providing what's behind an image!

[@OwenEdwards97]

Love these art videos, love being introduced to new photographers

[@mplabs23]

This is the content I originally subscribed for. Awesome! Please make more of these.

[@PhilKnall]

This is the kind of video that makes me excited about the art of photography!

[@ericmeter8269]

Love this, Ted. No one covers the art of camera work like you do. Thank you.

[@cmdrspockncc1701]

Happy to see you're still doing videos. :) Be safe

[@pmcbMadeInIreland]

Absolutely great to hear this, thank you and, as others have said, more please. Lots of takeaways here (just like COVID eating habits!) but my main one was that a good/great photo should move you in some way. As well as being moved by photos of other photographers, I guess we should aim to achieve that with our own photos in any way possible. Thank you Ted. Really enjoyed your take on all the images you showed too. Keep it up.

[@suresureYT]

Great video as always. Love your knowledge of photography and the way you deliver it. Hugely inspiring. Thank you so much

[@TheGazmondo]

We Love our TED TALKS on the Art Of Photography. Nice one Ted !!

[@BalmungCo]

guys, try to watch this at 0.5 speed. best experience ever!

[@Adam-pm1cy]

It is this kind of content that made me subscribe to your channel years ago - please continue!

[@jszphotography]

Hi there. I do now street photography. Just hard to read and find a story of the pitures what I take most of the time. Is not easy rally. I try so hard to get a way to do this really. I look lot of street photographers like Viven Maier or Bill Brandt. I even dont know what picture inspire me, is it a bad thing?

[@delsolarpablo]

Thanks for the video Ted. To me modern art and good photographs are much like rock. They catch the viewer unguarded and punch you in the face without warning. Usually simple composition and straight to the point. No introduction necessary. On the other side there is classical art like Da Vinci Mona Lisa. They are more like jazz or classical music. they need contemplation time to deliver the message. off course there are exceptions, but for the most part, photography as a medium dont have that luxury.

[@dimitriostsiganis]

This is an interesting video. I'd love it if you were to do a series about the subject.

[@MaliDaviesPhotography]

Wonderful Ted, thank you 🙏

[@cooperswayadventures]

So glad your on youtube, someone that understands and knows image...visual communication 👍 i studied design and visual communication... The great painters etc... Print, etc.. It is a specialist subject i feel just flippantly thrown a side. When they want an electrician, mecanical engineers its, a different attitude. I studied design at Blackpool college, a degree at Cleveland college and assistant to photographers in London... I've had a good career. All the best Tony

[@SantiagoBilly]

Please make more of these videos! I really enjoy it!

[@Atomicgherkin]

Thank you for introducing me to Graciela Iturbide!

[@codytheodore5699]

This is a really insightful video! Thanks for making this video.

[@Nybykiosken]

There is an interesting observation that I think I got from Joey L. A photograph says something about the photographer, the motif and the observer. I find this analytical framework of sorts particularily interesting when looking back at my own work or even family snapshots.

[@SaralSaadheSoppe]

Ted back being ted....plz keep doing such videos... Dont loose urself in gear reviews.... I loved this channel for such content... I can hv reviews on 100 other channels....

[@alexanderpons9246]

Oh wow I was not too far off the amount of time we look at pieces of Art, I was screaming at the screen "5 seconds" and then you said 3 seconds! I guess we need to re discover creativity while in confinement. Thanks for all the effort you put in making such great content Ted Forbes on your channel!

[@giselesmith7795]

I love your videos that keep me thinking about the subject after the video has ended.

[@badgerag]

The point is to shoot something you care about. Visualisation beforehand, and you want to to nail down your research. This will aid your creative imagination towards your subject / project. I say project in the sense of having a long term commitment to capturing something which has meaning to oneself and therefore others (a few perhaps). On the other hand just create single images of what you love, or what will get you the dopamine hits of likes. For me. building a cohesive body of work is more important, for others it may be single, powerful images. Go create humans and good luck, whatever you choose.

[@photojournalismlosangeles3674]

Hi, Ted! Thanks so much for another great ideas & content video! I feel (I could be wrong) like you've drifted to a higher percentage of gear reviews in recent times. I appreciate the sad reality that gear reviews generate more views & revenue than idea videos, but I'd still like, as much as is realistic, to encourage you to keep your focus on the art & idea videos that you do so well. I'm familiar with the "3 second" viewing thing. I'd heard it was 4 seconds, but there's little difference. While your point about looking more and deeper is important, I think the 3-second thing, while technically true, is a misleading and useless stat. That makes it sound like people go to an art museum to look at nothing and then just eat in the café and buy a book or scarf in the gift shop and go home. Out here in Los Angeles, an institution like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has thousands of works on exhibition every day. To look at every single piece for just 60 seconds each would take longer than the museum is open in a day! In fact, it would take more minutes than the museum is open in a week! Necessarily, one does have to walk quickly past many works. Spending even less than 3 seconds at most works. I would hope visitors would, and I know in my own museum viewing, that for the many works that I spend 1 second with, there are a handful that I spend one or many minutes with. At the Ball Court at Chichen Itza, I spent literally hours trying to absorb as much detail and ambiance from that massive "installation work" as I could. My friends were going crazy, dropping by every 15 minutes or so trying to drag me away, but it was so important to me to experience the textures and sensibility of that work as deeply as possible. Your point, that we should choose work to look at more deeply, is entirely appropriate. But I think that perhaps you and art museums in general should drop the "3 seconds" statistic. It may be technically true, but I find it entirely misleading. With apologies, I want to belabor the gear review point a but further. Photography on KZbin is overwhelmingly dominated by gear reviews and I think this imbalance is deeply destructive to the very photography we all strive to create. Gear reviews aren't bad in themselves, but they must outnumber creativity, content & ideas videos by 100 to 1. This overwhelming imbalance skews our perception. Many of us have a bit of Gollum-like obsession with shiny things and when channel after channel bombard us with message after message to consume more commodities as a path to great photography, we're all too happy to oblige. The problem isn't that gear reviews exist, and the problem isn't that reviewers are biased. I think most reviewers are very honest about the pros and cons of everything they review. They probably give more and better information than a salesperson at a camera shop. The problem is disproportionality. When I wake up one morning to find 20 videos on Sony joining Canon and Nikon in releasing a $2,000 50mm f1.2 lens, I start to wonder if I "need" one. I start to think that $2,000 for a "nifty fifty", the historically least expensive lens one could find, is somehow a perfectly reasonable expense. All the photographers you've talked about on your channel remind me that ideas and vision are always more important than cameras and lenses. Unless you're going to make your own cameras and grind your own lenses, we all do have to buy something. But in a perfect world, it would be 90% videos like this one, and only 10% relentless gear reviews. Not the 1% content and 99% gear that we find on KZbin today. The husband half of a popular husband-and-wife KZbin photography channel has commented that ideas and creativity are more important than gear and that the reason they make so many gear videos is because the KZbin analytics show that we the audience watch those much more than the idea and creativity videos. Chicken and egg. Which came first? Relentless gear videos? Or a gear-obsessed photography community? It probably doesn't matter. There's plenty of Gollum to go around. Sometimes, toward the end of a 20-minute review of the latest mirrorless wonder, a reviewer will toss in as an aside, "really, any camera made in the last 5 years is great." I think the many amazing photographers you've featured on this channel are a reminder that really, any camera made in the last 100 years is great! An old camera with a compelling idea is always stronger than the latest mirrorless autofocus wonder and "what should I take pictures of?" One YT channel I love is DSLRguide. Simon Cade is a young guy with a mature perspective. His channel consistently emphasizes content over gear. In fact, he's made a couple of videos arguing persuasively for not buying new gear. He's argued that new toys might be fun for a few weeks and might give you a 10% better image on screen, but that using that money instead to hire professional actors instead of trying to turn your friends into actors, or to travel to great locations instead of trying to shoot every scene within a short distance from home, will put far more on the screen for a given budget. I spent 2017 and 2018 doing a lot of street photography. I loved it. I spent 2019 doing photojournalism. PJ is more work than Street. But for me, far more rewarding. After experiencing the power of photojournalism, I found it hard to even go back to Street. Street was somehow no longer enough. I yearned to tell deeper stories, even though it's more work. I began in February and March 2020 to try to start on some longer-form Social Documentary projects. In mid-March 2020 a pandemic curtain drew those barely started projects to an abrupt close. I have photojournalist friends who dashed into the field to cover COVID, then the murder of George Floyd, and later the American Presidential elections. A couple of them have created incredibly powerful images of these events. Even so, I made the personal decision to observe pandemic isolation. The vaccines are offering hope, but I nonetheless expect 2021 to be much like 2020. I'm anticipating the chance to dive in again on longer projects in 2022. In my wildest dreams I don't expect to achieve even a fraction of what the many great photographers you've featured on The Art of Photography achieved. Still, I do think I can use photography to share important stories worth telling. Yes, I will use a mirrorless autofocus wonder to do it. While I will achieve less than people like Edward Curtis or Lewis Hine, my fingers are crossed that I will be able to live out my life with more financial security than life afforded them. Thanks for everything, Ted.

[@lawrencehorowitz9291]

Inspirational repackaging of what I've heard from Ted and others. Reminded me of the many ways to stay engaged and grow creatively.

[@V3kell]

I don't often comment on your videos, but I have been watching them for 4 years now. I was wondering if you could do a deep dive into William Mortensen. There seems to be a shameful lack of information on this influential pictorialist. Thank you for teaching me the ropes of photography and being a vicarious mentor for so many beginners like me.

[@filipposalvalaggio87]

I reality liked this video! Your conclusion about force ourselves to creativity it find me 100% agree

[@RickMentore]

Engaging, entertaining as usual. I appreciate your efforts bring these fantastic clips!

[@LeReVid]

Man these are my favorite episodes!

[@patappaul3910]

Great video...but a have afollow up question....where do you get your shirts? I love them, classy as hell and look really comfy!