در باب عکاسی خیابانی و تصویر شاعرانه

The Photography Workshop Series

by Alex Webb

الکس وب را بیشتر بخاطر عکس های رنگی پیچیده و زنده ای که از آمریکای لاتین گرفته، می شناسند. عکاسی خیابانی قدمتی به بلندای خود تاریخ عکاسی دارد چرا که اولین عکس های از خیابان‌های پاریس گرفته شده‌ اند.

عکاسی خیابانی شکلی از عکاسی مستند است که موضوع اصلی‌اش را زندگی و اتفاقات در خیابان‌ های شهری شکل می دهد. در واقع آن چه عکاسی خیابانی را از منظره شهری متمایز می کند، حضور انسان ها در عکاسی خیابانی است در حالی که در مناظر شهری ممکن است یا انسانی نبینیم یا این که حضور انسان ها اهمیت چندانی نداشته باشند.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art, Poetry

Paperback

First published May 31, 2014

Reviews

[Essareh]

واقعاً درباره این کتاب چی بگم؟

از نظر من، فوق‌العاده بود! از مقدمه تا «در پایان روز»، عاشقش شدم!

من فکر می‌کنم اتفاقی که دید کنونی ربکا نوریس رو ساخته، مرگ برادرشه. سوگ باعث ثبت تصاویر «شاعرانه» شده. الکس وب هم بیشترین تاثیر رو از سفر کردن گرفته. پی بردن به نقطه عطف زندگی یک هنرمند، کمک زیادی به بهتر شناختن هنرش می‌کنه. از همین یادداشت‌ها هم می‌شه فهمید که چرا عکس‌های الکس وب این‌قدر پر از رنگ و نوره و چرا عکس‌های ربکا نوریس [به قول همسرش] ته‌رنگ پاییز داره.

نویسنده‌ها نمی‌گن که بیا بهت چیزی یاد بدیم. نمی‌گن چی درسته و چی غلط. نمی‌گن از توی مخاطب (که ممکنه هر کسی باشی) بهتر می‌دونیم. تو تمام یادداشت‌ها، انگار که می‌گن: «ما جهان رو این‌طور می‌بینم و این مسائلیه که ما پشت سر گذاشتیم.» و با فروتنی، تجربیاتشون رو در اختیار خواننده می‌ذارن.

این کتاب فقط برای آموزش به عکاسان خیابانی نیست؛ بلکه می‌تونه به تمام عکاس‌ها، علاقه‌مندان به عکاسی، کسانی که دوست دارن عکس ببینن و هر کس که می‌خواد دید دقیق (و حتی شاعرانه) داشته باشه، کمک کنه.

بی‌شک کتابیه که دوباره سراغش می‌رم؛ البته باید تا اون‌موقع بیشتر و بهتر ببینم و بخونم.

[شایسته]

بازخوانی این کتاب برام، شده شبیه به یک آیین مقدس که چندوقت یک بار باید به جا آورده بشه.
ربکانوریس وب با دوربینش شعر می‌گه.
واقعا دوسش دارم.

---
«که ماتم و امتناع از محو شدن و امتناع از پذیرشِ محو شدنِ دیگران بدون برجای گذاشتنِ اثری شاعرانه، بیش از کوچک ساختنِ ما، مارا بزرگ می‌کند».

این کشفِ این بار خوندنمه:)
---
می‌دونی عکسا می‌تونن با هم حرف بزنن؟

[Russ]

A fine disquisition on the art of photography. A book that lends itself to a slow reading in order to allow each section to be more fully absorbed. I enjoyed the poetic references and inspirational quotes. A great read for those interested in the thought behind photography, or perhaps more precisely on arranging photography. While some books on photography are written by those who write much better than they photograph, that was not the case with this book. The images are delicious and could stand alone without the text, the text here giving insight and meaning to the thought behind the work.

[Phil]

Thought-provoking commentary (though lacking any mention of equipment or technique) and lovely, poetic photos. Beautiful paper stock and print quality, just as the others in the series.

[Wilde Sky]

A collection of photographs with a brief description of each one.

I thought many of the images were captivating.

Reading / viewing time around thirty minutes.

[Setareh]

تمام کتاب مشتاقانه‌تر صفحات الکس وب رو دیدم و خوندم.

[Christine]

This book was great. I loved the way the images were connected to interpersonal, historical and geographical information. There was a mini story with each image.

I also loved the poetic references and inspirational quotes. It felt a little more like art theory then workshop, but I still got a lot out of it. I recommend this for anyone interested in photography or poetic images.

The book is an easy read. I broke it up over several days, because I wanted everything to really soak in, but you could probably read it in one sitting.

This is a book I will come back to many times, it still has things to teach me.

[Kirsten]

I quite enjoy Alex Webb's photography, and as my library didn't have any of his photo books to loan, I chose this instead. I'm pleased to be introduced to Rebecca Norris Webb's work here as well. This collection of photos and essays is a lovely meditation on the eye and the thought that goes into photography. Quite enjoyable on both levels.

[Roman]

"The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do." Henry Moore

[Elsie Nisonen]

Great book and insight to the creative process

[Patricia L.]

Need inspiration for your photos? The couple triggers they look.

[Bhabani Sankar Mishra]

A must read for Street Photographers

[Victoria]

Interesting book with some images which certainly make you think. Enjoyable I'm sure for all fans of Street Photography.

[Nickolas]

Insightful commentary and philosophy on the street and travel photography by these two photographers. Not a how to book.

[Chris Schneider]

I would love to see more books like this. The Webbs were challenged to put their workshop they offer into book form, and here it is. By using their photography as well as famous examples of established photographers, they offer advice and thoughts on being an art/street photographer.

Their work is quite distinct, so I imagine people who appreciate one will think the other one is out of place, but I believe they are both quite talented. Alex, the more famous of the two, is undoubtedly talented, with many successful books and exhibitions to his credit. His street images from all over the world are rare indeed. Rebecca's work is more poetic and introspective, but at times simply beautiful and meaningful. It seems she has one main solo book project that she refers to often.

This book gives photographers, primarily ones who have already been making work for many years, many things to consider. From book design to developing an idea to keeping yourself going, it is loaded with discussion and examples from their own lives. Thankfully, it is also devoid of "you should" this and "you should" that, which seems to be a favorite method of self-help books, working at making you feel inadequate and in need of help.

[Ryan Trauman]

Some photography books focus on just capturing a poetic image; others focus on the timing, hard work, luck, and hutzpah of street photography. This is not a book reflecting on how to combine them. Instead, it juxtaposes the two approaches. In doing so, it shows how they appear in parallel but never touch. More specifically, in the context of Webb's street photography, the intimacy and the moment of a landscape photograph becomes more evident in Norris Webb's photos. And Norris Webb's landscapes help us to remember that each of Webb's scenes takes place on a street in a neighborhood in a city in a country in a moment plucked out of whole experience. The captions offer humble successes, mistakes, and insights learned from taking these photos. There is a real intimacy to all the photos and comments. This is a beautiful book you'll return to for unexpected inspiration.

[Barry Stoch]

I'm a big admirer of Alex's work and was hoping to get an insight into his creative process with this book.

From the summary "In this series, Aperture Foundation works with the world's top photographers to distill their creative approaches, teachings, and insights on photography--offering the workshop experience in a book. "
Given this expectation I feel the book failed and seemed more like an advertisement for the multiple books they have had published

[Edie Lee]

Husband and wife photographers Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb sometimes collaborate on books. This particular one features not only samples of their own works but that of other photographers whom they admire. Inspiring text explains their works and feelings towards the process. It’s a winning combination.

[Boalcă Diana]

"It's important to take bad pictures.
It's the bad ones that have to do with
what you've never done before.
They can make you recognize something
you hadn't seen in a way that will make
you recognize it when you see it again."

[maryz]

reading the writings on each page kind of felt like having a conversation with your art professor, really made me miss those moments. read at Ellm studio.

[Ashley Chang]

I’ve had this book for a while and never really read thru it as much as I should have. It’s really a great point of inspiration and something that I’ll keep referencing.

[Jiaying]

Yet another fantastic book I came across, thanks to one of my collective members for lending it me, a great ending to my 2022 Reading Challenge. If anything, I’d say one central message I’ll pick up from this book is about having faith in our photographs, even the ones that we perceive to be ‘bad or ugly’ photos. More than having faith in the photos I’ve shot, is to allow our photographs to lead us into uncharted waters. More often than not, most of us have the tendency to delete our photographs until I came across this quote by Diane Arbus (American Photographer) I’ve recently got to known from Vivian Maier’s book I’ve read weeks ago,

“It’s important to take bad pictures.
It’s the bad ones that have to do with
what you’ve never done before.
They can make you recognize something
you hadn’t seen in a way that will make
you recognize it when you see it again.”

Within the same page on Mistakes as Roadmaps also contains another quote by Bruce Davidson (American photographer, Magnum member),

“Photography depends on the three P’s: passion, persistence, and patience.”

People like me often delete my photographs almost immediately, given my photographic approach where I snap away freely; swerving with my eyes, the camera’s LCD screen and my arms to experiment with different ways of perceiving my surroundings instead of having to follow the ‘rules of photographing’. Because I can shoot quite abit at once, decluttering can be a chore due to practicalities.

No doubt, my bold experimentation with street photography has gotten me quite far compared to when I first started in early Feb 2022, it’s because of this nature which makes me want to keep seeking for new inspiration, new filters, new effects etc. making me unable to stay put. It’s a pattern that happens in my personal life too. When I’m unable to solve that issue within a time frame I gave myself, I get discouraged and overwhelmed instead of waiting patiently during that season of nothingness. I’ve always wanted to self-publish but never got the chance to properly sit down and look back on my old photographs, printing them, seeing if any sort of patterns emerge.

And I thought this quote from the book was a timely reminder on The Wisdom of Re-Vision.

“My photographic re-vision process is akin to the one I use when writing poetry, a creative excavation to uncover and begin to understand what the work is truly about versus what I initially thought it was about.”

It’s a rather eye-opening book and I’m hoping to get a physical copy for myself. I appreciated the quotes in this book too alongside poets or writers that both Alex and Rebecca introduces us to.

[Ruzz]

You either love Alex Webb or you don't. I don't. His work, to me, seems overly complicated and too focused on being clever. That said, I discovered I liked his wife's work a great deal. It's emotive. it's seeking. It's about the feels.

Even with her part of the book being sound and considerably good, this book claimed to be a workshop in a book and failed. or, perhaps, it was just a bad workshop.. but in book form.

It read to me as more an advertisement for Webb's books. Practically every page makes mention of one of his books and I felt "okay, we get it, you have lots of books" but I'm reading one right now, so why not talk about what this book is about.

He didn't. It wasn't.

At least it had some pretty pictures in it.