Re: Photographer a Week (Forsyth)
Hi, Abano wrote: I din't knew him. Gorgeous work, I like the style. It reminds me a bit to Doisneau. He's not at all famous and probably never will be. But what he's done, for me, eclipses the works of greater photographers. He lived in the community, the community funded his photography by buying his pictures and he has documented in great detail a tiny part of British culture that has now disappeared. I suspect that there are many others who have done this but only a few, like Frank Sutcliffe as well as Doisneau, gain any recognition and that is often by accident. Much of the work done by these people ends up lost, destroyed or dispersed. I also suspect that applying the word style to his work would amuse him. He was never anything but extremely poor (during his active photographic life) and his work looks the way it does due to his use of whatever was available at the time. Paradoxically, he is probably now (still alive, last I heard) richer than he has ever been, although I think he has had to give up working due to failing eyesight. mike
Re: Photographer a Week (Forsyth)
Hi Mike, Thanks for the data. With style I referred to his way to photograph people posing smiley and happy to do so, looking friendly and proud of their existences. I like this kind of portraits, no matter if they are more or less documentary than no posed ones. Regards Albano --- mike.wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Abano wrote: I din't knew him. Gorgeous work, I like the style. It reminds me a bit to Doisneau. He's not at all famous and probably never will be. But what he's done, for me, eclipses the works of greater photographers. He lived in the community, the community funded his photography by buying his pictures and he has documented in great detail a tiny part of British culture that has now disappeared. I suspect that there are many others who have done this but only a few, like Frank Sutcliffe as well as Doisneau, gain any recognition and that is often by accident. Much of the work done by these people ends up lost, destroyed or dispersed. I also suspect that applying the word style to his work would amuse him. He was never anything but extremely poor (during his active photographic life) and his work looks the way it does due to his use of whatever was available at the time. Paradoxically, he is probably now (still alive, last I heard) richer than he has ever been, although I think he has had to give up working due to failing eyesight. mike = Albano Garcia El Pibe Asahi __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools
Re: Photographer a Week (Forsyth)
Thanks for the link, Mike. I enjoyed watching his pictures immensly. See also below. From: mike.wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] He's not at all famous and probably never will be. But what he's done, for me, eclipses the works of greater photographers. He lived in the community, the community funded his photography by buying his pictures and he has documented in great detail a tiny part of British culture that has now disappeared. I suspect that there are many others who have done this but only a few, like Frank Sutcliffe as well as Doisneau, gain any recognition and that is often by accident. Much of the work done by these people ends up lost, destroyed or dispersed. I also suspect that applying the word style to his work would amuse him. He was never anything but extremely poor (during his active photographic life) and his work looks the way it does due to his use of whatever was available at the time. Paradoxically, he is probably now (still alive, last I heard) richer than he has ever been, although I think he has had to give up working due to failing eyesight. mike Sorry for the long quote, but I just like hearing this kind of down to earth relation of an important photographical achievement. At http://www.amber-online.com/gallery/exhibition19/notes19.html Jimmy Forsyth: Plans were in the air for knocking Scotswood Road down. When they knocked down the Infirmary in 1954 a curious crowd gathered to watch. It was then that I realised someone should make a record of what was left of the community. For posterity's sake. I had nothing to do, why not make a record of Scottie Road to pass the time? It would show future generations what we looked like and how we lived. I wonder how I ever made the pictures, I was only on a couple of pounds Assistance then. Anyway, I picked up a cheap folding camera in one of the pawn shops. There wasn't much to adjust, just as well, because I've never known what to do. I still can't understand exposures and things like depth of field after all these years, not really. I'm just an amateur, I was never interested in photography, not really. When you're taking a photography you're recording something that will never happen again, catching a moment in time, I was just capturing what I knew was going to disappear. People say to me today, How did you get all those fancy shades? but I wasn't looking for fancy shades, I was just taking what was there, the things I was interested in and the things I liked, and tried to make them look real. All the developing was done at the chemist's. I could only afford contact prints. I had to wait twenty years before I ever saw the negatives enlarged or printed properly.' Lasse
Re: Photographer a Week (Forsyth)
Great stuff, Mike. The story is especially compelling. Haven't had a chance to see all the photos yet, but the story really touches me ... having to wait twenty years to see the prints! Lasse Karlsson wrote: From: mike.wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] He's not at all famous and probably never will be. But what he's done, for me, eclipses the works of greater photographers. He lived in the community, the community funded his photography by buying his pictures and he has documented in great detail a tiny part of British culture that has now disappeared. I suspect that there are many others who have done this but only a few, like Frank Sutcliffe as well as Doisneau, gain any recognition and that is often by accident. Much of the work done by these people ends up lost, destroyed or dispersed. I also suspect that applying the word style to his work would amuse him. He was never anything but extremely poor (during his active photographic life) and his work looks the way it does due to his use of whatever was available at the time. Paradoxically, he is probably now (still alive, last I heard) richer than he has ever been, although I think he has had to give up working due to failing eyesight. mike
Re: Photographer a Week (Forsyth)
Hi Albano, Albano Garcia wrote: Hi Mike, Thanks for the data. With style I referred to his way to photograph people posing smiley and happy to do so, looking friendly and proud of their existences. I like this kind of portraits, no matter if they are more or less documentary than no posed ones. Regards I understand. I also like his pictures, especially those of the children who seem to be enjoying the novel situation of being photographed. An aside: how likely would his pictures have been to survive if it was a collection of CDs rather than the more obvious prints and negatives? mike
