Three takeaways from Alec Soth’s ‘Photographic Storytelling’ course

[@hanumanguy]

Thanks for doing this review. I am half way through the course and I am finding it invaluable. One of my cinema professors used to tell us that the important thing in cinema is to have something to say, I think it's a quote from Godard. For me this course really aligns with this, when Alec talks about the ability to make a collection of pictures into a story. I think the single image banger concept that fuels Instagram and other social media is quite detrimental to the process of story telling.

[@BryanBirks]

Only course I’ve ever bought and can definitely vouch for it. Very worthwhile and for $100 bucks it’s a steal. Hearing him talk about shaking from nervousness while taking large format portraits was very humanizing.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Yeah man, I’d agree with you. Well worth the money, IMO. And yeah, loved hearing about his initial attempts going out to photograph people. It’s all about getting uncomfortable and just putting in the work.

[@carlomac]

I did the course too, it was a great insight into how Alec works and to be honest the biggest takeaway I got from the whole course was its ok to not be perfect straight away, that the trick is just to keep the journey alive wherever that leads you. Challenges will arrive, those challenges and how you navigate them is actually part of how the project forms itself. The other important takeaway from me is to do your own thing, its really easy to see all this content on instagram (which alot of the time is technically good) and think you have to do work like that. Technically good photographs are nothing compared to creating something original and honest. I would even say instagram can be damaging because its all the same stuff alot of the time and I think its very limiting to look at it too much.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Yep, it’s all about just sticking with it and doing the work. As for IG, I think we all have unique relationships with it and deal with it differently.

[@karterignacio8350]

you probably dont care at all but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an instagram account? I was stupid forgot my login password. I would love any tricks you can offer me

[@dangrygo9367]

Got it few weeks ago. We need more artists like Alec showing their vulnerability and reveal their path to success. Thank you for this video Kyle.

[@KyleMcDougall]

You’re welcome. And yeah, I agree.

[@MurrayLivingston]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together Kyle. Definitely gonna check out the course! 😊

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thanks, Murray. It's a good one!

[@redmayne1783]

I came back to this video. Seen it 4 times now. Thank you for the review, Kyle. I am the biggest Alec fan and enjoy him talking about his craft. This video sums up the entirety of the man's process. Thank you for highlighting it. Big love.

[@amandacreamer05]

Kyle, this is a wonderful video! Loved hearing your takeaways from this course. The course sounds amazing and your takeaways were so inspiring, encouraging and applicable to me, my photo projects and life in general. Thanks so much for giving me some inspiration and energy to keep going with photo projects!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Cheers, Amanda! Glad you enjoyed this overview. The course is great and I'd definitely recommend it at some point!

[@dmitrybelyakov]

There's a film about Alec's Broken Manual work that is definitely worth checking out as well, it's called 'Somewhere to disappear'

[@BryanBirks]

It’s on Vimeo I believe.

[@harrytalay301]

@@BryanBirks thanks for the heads up, been looking for it for a while

[@camerachica73]

I really liked the course - I thought it was great to see him experiment and make mistakes. It made me feel a lot better about my own practice, as I'd previously thought to be a pro you had to be super slick, know everything you were doing would turn out etc. so it was very valuable to see an art photographer approach things. It was also great to see him using older images that didn't fit anywhere, but years later they found a place in a new project.

[@camerachica73]

I forgot to add that you also get worksheets for each chapter, which were good to really reflect on what Alec had been discussion and then think about how it affects your own work.

[@jameschristyallman1947]

The idea of starting with one idea, and that progressing into something completely different and then again and again, like a process or even more abreast than that, a natural artistic journey, is something Ive not been able to vocalize myself as a photographer. This has helped, a lot.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad you enjoyed this James!

[@susanneh2207]

This was a great review. I love Alec Soth so much. Will definitely check out his course! Thank you!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Cheers, Susanne. It's a great course. I'm sure you'll love it!

[@photofools307]

Another fantastic video. Thank you for giving us some insight and allowing us to see a bit of the course. SERIOUSLY considering this now.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tbostrowski6136]

Good timing. Ive been thinking about buying Soth’s Sleeping by the Mississippi for a while , its been in the cart and wish list on and off for years. Finally pulled the trigger and my copy arrived yesterday and today the thought process behind it is on your Channel. That’s pretty coincidental timing. :) Really takes the appreciation factor up a few notch’s. And congrats on catching Magnums eye Kyle, thats an amazing honour to be recognized by such an high caliber and legendary agency. In my opinion anyway. If Magnum took notice of me I’d be over the moon. The Storytelling class looks good, I can see why you give it a nod, I tend to be cautious with internet based learning, it seems like everything is a Masterclass now, but Ive had success with Creative Lives Creators Pass and in the good old days when I had money Id take workshops on location, nothing quite like being in a room for energy and collaboration , alas that was in Pre Covid times . Anyway....Thanks for another great post.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thank you! And that's funny you just bought the course before this. I'm sure you're really going to get a lot from it. I know that I did. And yeah, was definitely cool to be able to do this with Magnum, especially focused on an artists whose work I admire.

[@carrieannkouri2151]

I’ve watched it multiple times, and I learn something new each time.

[@zvitkovits]

Alec's work is inspiring indeed. Thank you for this video.Very well done.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thanks Chris!

[@zvitkovits]

@@KyleMcDougall ... let me add one more thing, Kyle. I highly appreciate your channel/work. You share your insights on photography - technical as well as technological aspects. You talk about photography in a holistic way. I find that very valuable and inspiring. Again, thank you.

[@AlisterMalcolm]

Exciting to hear you're looking to publish your first photo book, look forward to it. Thank you for introducing me to Alec

[@lichtmaler]

Thank you Kyle, you provided super valuable insight. Thanks for sharing.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cescadiebschlag5837]

Thanks for putting this together. Alec Soth is always an inspiration! I particularly enjoyed the glimpse into the evolution of Sleeping by the Mississippi, and his efforts to make the work less literal, more 'telling it slant'.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad you enjoyed this!

[@clarhettcoalfield3616]

Its seems 'Time' more than anything changes us, changes people, changes our paths and directions. For the most part we (creatives) are observers, who over time develop and grow within the times we are cast to live in. And I believe Alec Soth's photographic body of work gives us a glimpse into how we are portrayed in this very 'Time' we are all now living and sharing. I enjoyed this, Thanks.

[@KyleMcDougall]

🙏 Glad you enjoyed it.

[@robinb5752]

Thank you for pointing this out! I knew about „Sleeping by the Mississippi“ and a little bit about Alec, but the course gives background to what I already knew. And it opens so many doors and trails to follow to more topics. The videos of Alec are great but the workbook pdfs are where the treasures are (for me)

[@thevisionaryelitist]

Kyle, great video, thank you. Came across your content recently and loving your vibe & honesty. Keep it up brother!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thank you, Andi. I appreciate that.

[@zach_deloach]

Really really appreciate this video Kyle, I’m always so excited when i see you have a new video up. Some much needed perspective in regards to my photography, you have definitely been one of the few to inspire me to start making videos of my process. I’m excited to hopefully see some of my videos next to yours here on KZbin!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thanks, Zach! I appreciate that. Glad you enjoyed this one and thanks for following along.

[@ReimannPembroke]

Really interesting to hear him talk about how to put together and present work.

[@samskordi6079]

Hi Kyle, I sent my film to ag for the first time after your recommendation. I've just got my scans back and they look awesome, I've got used to the low res prints from my local store, but these scans look amazing!

[@KyleMcDougall]

That's awesome to hear, Sam. Glad you were happy with AG!

[@benjaminarbez7522]

Really great video Kyle! Inspiring to hear Alec talk about his process. I would love for you to have him on the podcast!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thanks, Benjamin. Yep, would love to have him on as well.

[@mattl347]

Alec is inspirational. I watched Somewhere to Disappear a while ago (as someone wrote - it's on Vimeo). Spine tingling stuff. I have some of his books. Kyle - thanks for featuring him, and for sharing your thoughts on his. Another great post from you.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thanks Matt. Definitely need to check that one out!

[@tatianapovaliaeva]

thank you so much for sharing! this is the impuls I needed to go back to work on my projects.

[@marshallwalker8002]

This video was amazing. Great work

[@KyleMcDougall]

Cheers, Marshall!

[@runninblue9415]

Interesting and reassuring that he had no clue about putting a book together. We always think successful people have everything sorted, whehereas often their material/ drive comes from not having everything sorted. 👍

[@KyleMcDougall]

I agree. Loved seeing the realities behind it all!

[@FlosBlog]

I like the idea of „the picture as evidence“ at 21:20

[@Raevenswood]

It's definitely worth 99$. When he started to talk about his influences it really clicked in my brain as to why I am drawn to his work. He is heavily influenced by Wim Wenders. I also look at Wim Wenders as an influence for my own work and of course Robbie Muller who did most of Wim's cinematography. All of his/their road films kick ass and Wings of Desire and Far Away So Close! are masterpieces of film making.

[@hanumanguy]

Wim Wenders is a great influence for me also. Watched Paris Texas multiple times when it first came out. So when Alec mentioned Wenders I knew I was on the right track. I am halfway through the course and love it. And yes it's well worth $99 and the time to watch it.

[@Raevenswood]

@@hanumanguy I love the wide angles of Paris Texas ... another masterpiece.

[@jnrickards]

Very cool, thanks for this.

[@KyleMcDougall]

You’re welcome.

[@lleiou0723]

"Broken Manual" is pretty expensive now, currently someone is selling it for $6,000 on eBay ... (used to be $7,500, now 20% off, but anyway ...) Also there is a documentary called "Somewhere To Disappear" which is about the making of some of the pictures in "Broken Manual", you can find the full film on Vimeo.

[@lleiou0723]

it's interesting that KZbin will instantly delete the Vimeo link :)

[@Daydream2142]

Is it because the book is out of print? Why is it so expensive?

[@dmitrybelyakov]

I don't think there was a lot of them made in the first place. I believe Alec talks about that in the course (or elsewhere) but I don't recall how many exactly.

[@lleiou0723]

@@Daydream2142 Yeah, 2011 version was handmade and only have 300 copies, and each copy is different.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thanks! I’ll look it up. Would love to see a doc about it.

[@koishes00]

Great course. Got a lot out of it and have returned to it many times.

[@jasonblake5576]

That was a really great presentation, thank you!!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stijnmulder6892]

Kyle, thanks my dude for making this great informative content. Inspiring stuff!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@hollywoodheiner6028]

Fun fact: Alec Soth - Photographic Storytelling 5+ hours course $99 Joe Greer - Photographic Storytelling 4 hours course $149 🤷🏽‍♂️😂

[@thejordanflynn]

But 100% more dangly earring and beanie with joe.

[@jellyfishfloatspa2088]

Greer is a joke akin to moment! Creating work as compelling as Soth isn't something that one can just recreate, it takes years if not decades of delicate nudging and mastery of the craft of story telling.

[@magicwaffl3z]

@@jellyfishfloatspa2088 Been seeing a lot of Joe hate lately, what's up with that? I understand not liking Moment as a company but Joe is a good photographer in his own right

[@denislavp8127]

@@magicwaffl3z The thing about Joe is that he is quite arrogant. He is telling the public that he'll go down as one of the grates rather than the public telling him that. Recently he posted that he's going off the grid to work on his "big project" ... a week later he comes back and types something in the lines of "4 years ago i bought my first leica. the m6 for $900. a lot has changed in 4 years sheeesh". That just proves how much the guy likes attention.

[@magicwaffl3z]

@@denislavp8127 ahh okay, Ive missed all of that. Well I could see why that would rub people wrong then lol. Thanks for the clarification. Edit: in regards to that thing he said about buying his first Leica, I looked at it on his Twitter looks like he was only referencing how much the camera has inflated in price since then. Didn't see the mess about him saying he is going to go down as a great, but if he did say that then I totally get why people would scoff and judge that. However I do still think Joe is super solid as a photographer, personality aside.

[@Dan_photo]

Kyle, FYI the affiliate link in bio actually links to a different course. May not help you out as much at the moment.

[@rossawilson01]

Watched it, loved it, bought it.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Enjoy!

[@SuperJimic]

Loved watching this. So interesting and following the thought process of it all has really inspired me. Thanks for sharing. 🙌🏻

[@KyleMcDougall]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wazowski489]

Now I want to make my own picture book

[@manueldulom3982]

Hi Kyle, I was wondering what monitor is it that you use for your photo-editing as I am looking forward to upgrading mine. Thanks!

[@JohnnyMcMillan]

Watched it a while back. Its a good course, not great but has its moments. It feels very very drawn out and is more a long interview of Soth covering his previous work more than anything. There's nothing wrong with that but it depends on what you were looking for.

[@quentinnewark2745]

As a graphic designer - I designed George Rodger’s monograph, and books for Larry Towell, David Doubilet, Ed Clark, Britta Jaschinski - I have spent years studying typography, choosing/editing/pacing images, I find it naive, its like a non-photographer making a video about how he discovered the shutter button, or how to charge the camera by usb.

[@jakesteurrys4225]

Fantastic video Kyle 😊

[@KyleMcDougall]

🙏🙂

[@MeumGaudiumRivegauche]

You got me on board this one.

[@ldt00]

Hi Does Alec Soth's course have English Sub? Because my English listening skill is not good enough.

[@mforfilm4833]

I just love how he connects the tactile memory and the visual memory as he browses through the book. Your video makes me want to really look into his work and more generally to make a routine of regularly sitting down with photo books. Have a lovely weekend.

[@natgeot]

I bought this course. But it shows it is under process for 48+ hrs and Magnum is not responding to any mail. Very disappointed . Is this usual?

[@FILMFRAT]

Wow really love your content this is amazing. What is your preferred camera you use for filmmaking, I'd love to have a conversation and maybe even collaborate on different ways in telling stories through film!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thank you. I currently go between the BMPCC6K and the Fuji X-T4.

[@jameschristyallman1947]

Alec encompasses everything about the word 'Art'. Truly inspirational

[@giulianomarialodi3722]

Thank you.

[@molnarjanos92]

I’ve been watching your videos for months now and just noticed I wasn’t even subscribed to the channel....well, that just changed.

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thank you. 🙏

[@AbelKleinblatt]

Thank you, Kyle!

[@KyleMcDougall]

You're welcome.

[@walterorellana3872]

liked and subscribed. awesome insight

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thank you.

[@sergiocasado2978]

Absolutely brilliant, priceless takeaways!

[@KyleMcDougall]

Thank you, Sergio. Glad you enjoyed this.

[@jakobquick1598]

thank you kyle

[@simonpetergreen]

cool ima just researching alec soth for my MFA Photography (UK)

[@simonpetergreen]

specifically songbook

[@drb9705]

Thanks, Kyle!

[@tedmartinpadres]

Thanks for sharing.

[@adamdoran5677]

Thank you for this!!

[@KyleMcDougall]

You’re welcome.

[@TheCadocas]

Pure poetry

[@GabrielMendozaph]

Thank you

[@neilgenower9950]

Sadly, Magnum is just a merchandising outfit now. Who can blame them? I have always had a nagging problem with AS work, I'm not actually sure what it is, I guess I don't understand the pictures, and that's my problem. This clip here was interesting in that his honesty came through. I understood the pictures more and felt more sympathy to his status. However, the words of a photographer often come to mind, unfortunately I cannot remember who it was, but he was very well respected. He said.." if you print a picture 10" x 8" it's a documentary picture, if you print it 10 feet by eight feet it's art. I can't help but feel a little this way about Soth's work. Nevertheless, he's a genuine guy shooting what he wants to and good luck to him for that. I notice a comment further down, saying "he's the most over rated photographer"... I don't think he's any more over rated than anyone else in the "art photography world"..... Personally, I think Martin Parr is far more over rated.

[@ucevrim]

Living legend

[@GJones-zx5nr]

Thanks

[@sebastianspiller1312]

What the hell. I'm in a lockdown in my country. How did I miss this video?!

[@peterlukac8458]

I got more reccomendations for this course, even Bryan Birks reccomended it. I really like Alec Soth's work, I got to get Sleeping by the Mississipi, too. But to be honest, in some scenes, from what I have seen, his talking looked a litlle bit boring, i.e. here at the start. Like too much monotonous talk, one can see that you KZbinrs are much better at it, with use of B roll and talking straight to the point... But it's cool to see background of such great projects. These concept books looks even a little funny, "sketchy", how amateur it looks, from the point of view of a graphics designer, considering what the final book look like... but I mean it's very "sympathetic", that although he's top photghrapher "from the elite club", that his projects were not perfect from the beginning and that even masters had to learn, and that he had not created such great work with straight plan and in few weeks. In this way it looks like an interesting and valuable insight.

[@KyleMcDougall]

I actually found his style quite relaxing and enjoyable, but definitely to each their own. And yeah, loved being able to see the realties behind each project.

[@mikesarge233]

🙌🏻✨

[@user-ti9zc1xv2b]

Alec Soth, dare I say? The most overrated photographer of our time.

[@KyleMcDougall]

I’d disagree, but to each their own.

[@camerachica73]

Have you seen Niagara? Everyone goes on about Sleeping with the Mississippi, but for me it's Niagara. In any case as Kyle says, each to their own. If not Soth, then you have obviously have a favourite photographer of your own whose work you admire.