Author Topic: Your first? Come on...tell all? (Read 7923 times)

Susan B. · « **on:** August 31, 2007, 11:03:55 PM »

Curious...

What was the first photographic image you saw that made you want to become a photographer?

I saw two images on the same day that cemented my future.
Lange and Levitt. (below)
I was at the Chicago Art Institute and I was nine.

You???

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LT · « **Reply #1 on:** September 01, 2007, 12:12:34 AM »

funnily enough, it wasn't a photograph or photographer that inspired me to start in this strange world of image capture, it was places. Since a very young child, I remember visiting places like Stonehenge and Kit's Coty (standing Stones near where I live) and I always wanted to make some kind of record of how I experienced them. As I grew older, my fascination grew and I spent more and more time at these places, seeking out new (to me) sites to visit etc, and of course, photos seemed the best way to record my explorations. I eventually bought a book called Circles of Stone by Aubrey Burl (megalith maniac) and Max milligan (photographer), with page after page of amazing pics and text - many night shots using Leica SLR gear and kodachrome. That spurred me on to look at things with a more photogrpahic eye - this shotof stonehenge particularly struck a chord in me:

strange considering I rarely take pics of standing stones these days and I never take colour shots!

Susan B. · « **Reply #2 on:** September 01, 2007, 01:15:30 AM »

Quote from: leon taylor on September 01, 2007, 12:12:34 AM

strange considering I rarely take pics of standing stones these days and I never take colour shots!

Brilliant! Love it!

And if you take the color or colour out, look what you have! Not near as good, but could almost be mistaken for a Leon Taylor knock-off.

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Skorj · « **Reply #3 on:** September 01, 2007, 02:14:35 AM »

Hard to tell really, but among the many, I dream of Charles Sheeler and O. Winston Link (and you of course):

Ford Plant, River Rouge, Criss-Crossed Conveyors, 1927.

NW1635 Birmingham Special at Rural Retreat, Virginia, 1957

Ron · « **Reply #4 on:** September 01, 2007, 02:21:36 AM »

awesome, susan - you were nine! wow. have you seen the other expsoures Lange made that day of Florence and her children? Leon - places for me too, honestly. I can say Ansel and Jerry Uelsmann were my first inspirations, but places, specifically the landscape, was my true first and is what got me interested in photography. It was soooooo good too

Still is after all these years

Sheeler rocks, Skorj!

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #5 on:** September 05, 2007, 10:23:47 AM »

For me it was Weegee's work that made me want to move from point'n'shoot snapping to something a bit more serious (and coincidentally move from digital to film); this would have been around 1999.

However, I'd always been a huge fan of photography and had admired the work of manay photographers over the years. Also, my family and friends number amongst them a number of good photographers so I was always in touch with it, but for some reason it was the Weegee stuff that made me want to do it myself.

I'm a big fan of film noir and the fiction that spawned it...you can't be into that stuff without being into Weegee. Also, I used to have my own very modest silk-screening business and his images looked amazing in that medium....like stills from a b/w film.

My parents both used cameras a lot when I was younger and we had a darkroom in the basement so I grew up with it in the background for a few years anyway. Also, my Dad's a painter/artist/art teacher and I've always had the inclination (possibly as a result of that) to view my day as a series of snapshots or graphic representations, but it was seeing images like this one that made me curious about how to do this sort of thing myself:

And then moving on, when I found out more about Weegee and his non-crime scene work, the story behind how he took this shot started me thinking more and more about the idea of being a photographer.

eyecaramba · « **Reply #6 on:** September 05, 2007, 06:55:55 PM »

Very nice stuff. I like the synergy with the inspiration v. the imagemakers here.

I cannnot remember a first photo but, apart from the family snaps, it was probably mainstream enough. Friends and family were my motivation for the early cameras 110 point and shoots as a twelve, thirteen year old... BUT the first art book that I had to have was a Ralph Eugene Meatyard monograph (the hot pink one) and that was New's Year Eve 1985 or so when I had had maybe a beginner photo class under my belt. I really did take a turn after that.

And then somewhere a few years later I was struck by an extraordinary print. It was extraordinary because it was sort of ordinary... at an Edward Weston retrospective there was an image of a stump at Point Lobos that really pulled my gonads out by my brain stem for some still gabbled reason. I was like f*ck me! Do you realize that that is a picture of a stump that you are getting all gobbed up over and it is by Edward Weston for chrissakes, who you like okay but certainly don't love, and get a hold of yourself because this is embarrassing! It was unusual because I liked Weston as much as the next person but I certainly didn't expect to be epiphanized by an image of his, let alone an image of a stump on top of that. It was beautiful print though really. And kind of weird, too.

More confessions next week?

Gordon

Edited to Add: That Charles Sheeler image is pretty awesome. I like O. Winston too but other images moreso...

moominsean · « **Reply #7 on:** September 06, 2007, 02:36:47 AM »

i too spent a lot of time at the art institute in chicago. i enjoyed the photography a lot, particularly early photography (1800s to 1930s) but i initially was mostly interested in drawing and painting (but i was dumb in college and said, gee how could i ever make money doing that? and did something i didn't want to do instead). the modern art collection is a personal favorite. last time i went back to indiana, i had to make a trip just to see that again. i took boxes of personal photographs from ages 9-18, but didn't really think about taking photography seriously until college (and didn't own a 'real' 35mm until I was 18). i was particularly impressed with imogen cunningham and man ray, of course. lots of things that are kind of emulated with toy cameras now...the fuzzy, grainy look. i was big into the surrealist thing and photomontages, too. hans belmer's doll photographs always intrigued me. but i liked and like lots of different styles. when i finish school, i kind of want to put a little more thought into my photography, as opposed to just driving around and taking pictures of whatever.
sean

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Ed Wenn · « **Reply #8 on:** September 06, 2007, 02:21:16 PM »

I forgot to mention that I'm a big fan of the Constructivists and also (inevitably given my musical leanings) the Bauhaus. At some point I realised how important photography was to both of those 'schools' and that further cemented my resolution that photography was the medium that I was being drawn to more than all of th others (I'm also very interested in architecture, graphic design, textlie design, decorative glass, tableware, interior design and decoration etc. etc.).

I think Bauhaus photos, primarily fed my interest in architecture, but I also loved the twisted stuff like th girls wearing a mask sitting in a chair.

With the Constructivists I was initially drawn to a piece of collage or maybe a design like this:

but over time came to genuinely appreciate the photography in its own right:

Finally, this Rodchenko portrait of Mayakovsky was a bit of turning point for me. It's still one of my all time faves, I could look at it for hours:

Francois · « **Reply #9 on:** September 06, 2007, 09:31:15 PM »

Funny to hear that it's music that brought you to the Bauhaus... Me, it was furniture design and architecture that brought me to the same aesthetics.

I have loved the 1920's modern movement ever since I had a chance to lay my eyes on an original chair by Le Corbusier... which quickly brought me to the Bauhaus (in a straight line). Then, there were the nudes by Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol. Never done nudes... but the prints are totally amazing.

Everything seems in some way to bring me back to modern architecture (which was basically invented in Weimar). Then, there was Julius Shulman's picture of the Case Study house #22. Very modern. When I first saw this picture (which surprisingly is a double exposure), it made my heart skip a beat while sending shivers down my back!

moominsean · « **Reply #10 on:** September 06, 2007, 10:31:06 PM »

i think ed was making a cross-reference (pun) to bauhaus the band. maybe.

that and the early punk aesthetic, with the collage and pseudo-facist/communist style that a lot of the album/poster art had. maybe.

steiglitz was another early influence for me.

and that house is pretty amazing. been in a few movies, i'm pretty sure. or something similar.

db · « **Reply #11 on:** September 07, 2007, 01:39:04 AM »

Well you are a visually sophisticated lot! I don't think there was a single image that struck me when I decided I wanted to be a photographer. Mind you, I was about 10 years old at the time. There are two memories that have stayed with me.

1/ As a kid rabbiting into dark dusty barns on the family farm, and unearthing ancient piled up copies of "Life Magazine" with their large format black and whites of foreign royalty, of presidents being shot, of astronauts training and deep-sea divers diving. I was in awe of the wonder of photographs in the media.

2/ My elderly father was a keen photographer. Every frame of Kodachrome 64 was precious. He took about 10 minutes to compose and capture each shot. I remember him shuffling and bobbing from side to side to frame the picture, then endlessly flipping his tortoise shell bifocals up and down, as he peered at the settings on the Kodak retina reflex 35mm. By the time he was good to go, generally the sun had already set, the dog had wandered off to sleep, or his family were yelling at him to get on with it.

But somehow the actual process of taking a photograph haunted me. That you could stand aside and choose a little aspect of life, see it in a way nobody else did and preserve it. Even if it was not representative of the overall scene or event; by capturing it and printing it you had made it your reality.

eyecaramba · « **Reply #12 on:** September 07, 2007, 02:11:39 AM »

I am also reminded of an occupational test that I took as a tenth grader... Called the Kuder Occupational test. I had a fairly solid math mind at the time - though it has atrophied plenty in recent years - and really thought I would be headed into a rational career of some kind... law or architecture or something such. Then I got back the results for that test and I had a dead tie between photographer and radio station manager. I thought that was pretty funny...

Still do.

Francois · « **Reply #13 on:** September 07, 2007, 04:05:33 PM »

Quote from: eyecaramba on September 07, 2007, 02:11:39 AM

and really thought I would be headed into a rational career of some kind... law or architecture or something such. Then I got back the results for that test and I had a dead tie between photographer and radio station manager. I thought that was pretty funny...

Still do.

Yep, Had something similar back in the early 90's...
For me, the result was Bus driver, Farmer or Ladies Lingerie designer

I really should have followed the test results and gone with the last one

And ended up at the school of management so I could try and get a good paying job that would pay for tons of film

while giving me plenty of free time...

moominsean · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2007, 05:01:21 PM »

mine had something to do with art or drafting/architecture or something. pretty much what i was doing in high school. though on career day i chose tv anchorman and embalmer (there was actually an embalmer that came and talked to us).

This-is-damion · « **Reply #15 on:** September 07, 2007, 07:51:14 PM »

mine said "fishfarmer"

cant think of anything worse, ive never liked fish and im vegetarian.

Francois · « **Reply #16 on:** September 07, 2007, 10:19:45 PM »

Quote from: moominsean on September 07, 2007, 05:01:21 PM

though on career day i chose tv anchorman and embalmer (there was actually an embalmer that came and talked to us).

One of them is very handy for doing still life pictures

(I know, bad taste and bad joke... but I just couldn't resist)

As for fishfarming... not my cup of tea either. When people can tell what you do for a living just by your stench... (eau de fish anyone?)

beck · « **Reply #17 on:** September 08, 2007, 01:25:14 AM »

I wish I can add something of interest like most here have already...I wasn't really exposed to any sort of life changing photography other than my own mum and neighbor shooting this and that. So to keep myself amused as a young girl, I thumbed through encyclopedias. I am really that boring. Particularly the letter P and Paintings. One picture that had me staring each time I opened the book was Winslow Homer's, The Gulf Stream. Man, I didn't know what I was looking at then. It was creepy and very scary...yet, I was fascinated by it and stared at it for hours. It was just very sad to look at...

I think my next mission is to recreate that Rodchenko portrait....wow. It's very bizarre how that looks like it was taken just today.

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JOhn Reeves · « **Reply #18 on:** September 17, 2007, 04:21:18 AM »

Painter of light leaping into the void
Yves Klein

It's a mix of this Yves Klein photo, photographs of early modern architectural details & precedents, Man Ray, Maholy Nagy, the idea of a pinhole camera and a monster crush that eventually led me to make photos

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RandomHamster · « **Reply #19 on:** September 17, 2007, 10:15:26 AM »

Dont think I ever saw one image that made me think I want to be a photographer, I just started playing with my grandfathers camera when I was about 8 after seeing him talking snaps of family. There are sooo many images that inspire me, Susan I especially love your images, that out of focus mistyness, that I drfit from one style to another. Know I do like wierd shots though, shots that make you stop and go...huh?

Davec101 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 03, 2007, 12:51:21 AM »

I suppose its rather apt that i my first post should be on this thread. The first print that got me inspired to take up photography seriously around 5 years ago was a platinum print taken by Sally Mann (shown below). The print was simply stunning. It was produced by 21st Editions with 9 other platinum prints bound in a beautiful hard back book. To see platinum prints of this quality without glass in front of them was truly breathtaking. It was around ?5000 and could not afford the asking price! To this day i strive to be able to produce a print of that quality.

rolo · « **Reply #21 on:** October 03, 2007, 04:00:25 AM »

What a great question! I'm reading everyone's fascinating responses and wracking my brain.

I guess I was initially enamored of the tools and the process. My dad had a Leica IIIf and a Yashica C. The woman who lived across the road from us taught photography at the high school and had a little darkroom setup in her laundry room. This is when I was six years old. She taught me how to develop the Verichrome I ran through my 127 box camera. I mixed D-76, Dektol, and Rapid Fixer by the gallon for her (imagine the trouble you'd cause asking a six year old to do that these days). My dad give me the Yashica C. I puttered around with that for years, not really creating anything interesting.

I worked at a camera store while I was in high school. At some point I saw photos by Garry Winogrand, though I didn't connect a name to them at the time. They were real, and raw, and utterly cool. I thought taking pictures like that would really take guts. A long time after that the next photos that really jumped out at me were the weekly "Sylvia Plachy's Unguided Tour" in the Village Voice. Sylvia's "your camera can make things interesting" aesthetic has stuck with me. I like to think that Sylvia Plachy is still taking me on an Unguided Tour.

First photo: Garry Winogrand, "Los Angeles, California, 1969"

Second photo: Sylvia Plachy, "Gabrielle, 1981"

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Aline · « **Reply #22 on:** October 04, 2007, 05:26:00 AM »

Okay...this is really tacky, but I have never gotten this album cover out of my mind...and I wasn't even a huge fan of his work, but it made me see in a different way...and I probably was busy reading Vogue magazines when I was 9, looking at Horst and Avedon and Penn...

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eyecaramba · « **Reply #23 on:** October 04, 2007, 07:30:09 PM »

Lido missed the boat that day
He left the shack
But that was all he missed
And he ain't comin back...

I cannot believe I remember that...

Hi, Aline.

Aline · « **Reply #24 on:** October 05, 2007, 03:26:52 PM »

Hi Gordon...
When r u comin' west?

eyecaramba · « **Reply #25 on:** October 05, 2007, 06:27:01 PM »

Am not sure really. I am in a show - with Susan and some others - in Seattle in November and I am sorely tempted to get out there but it has come around so recently that I am not sure if I can swing it or not. As for the LA - SF swing, I would love to manufacture a good reason before Photo Lucida in '09. I am always behind, forever. I wrote that in a letter or email recently and it just damn sums it up. It is my mantra now. Always behind, forever.

Soon maybe?

Skorj · « **Reply #26 on:** October 06, 2007, 04:11:10 AM »

Quote from: rolo on October 03, 2007, 04:00:25 AM

What a great question! I'm reading everyone's fascinating responses and wracking my brain.
First photo: Garry Winogrand, "Los Angeles, California, 1969"
Second photo: Sylvia Plachy, "Gabrielle, 1981"

That's a great story Rolo-san, and a great set of examples.

Skorj · « **Reply #27 on:** October 06, 2007, 04:12:27 AM »

Quote from: Aline on October 04, 2007, 05:26:00 AM

Okay...this is really tacky, but I have never gotten this album cover out of my mind...

I suppose it is, but to me inspiration and art comes from all quarters, and I can see how this cover art works. A another good example!

Author Topic: Your first? Come on...tell all? (Read 7923 times)

Davec101