Bruce Gilden is a street photographer from New York. Yesterday he came into school to give us a talk about his work. Gilden is an unusual character, who is very loud and outspoken, with a think bronx accent, but never the less a very interesting and clearly clever man, who knows what he wants and go's and gets it... or more accurately photographs it. He opened with a short talk about himself, and quoted another photographer saying about his photography 'If its not good enough, your not close enough'. His photos are just that, very up close and personal, he told us a short story about each one of his photos, each story as interesting as the next, I also liked the fact that you could make the stories that he was telling come more real in your mind, creating sub-stories from them of the subjects within his photos. He said that each one of his photos was about himself, and his feelings on the world. It was interesting, because he was saying, every person in his photos he likes, and is drawn to them somehow, and argued that he was trying to make these people look bad but put them in all their glory. His work ranges from street photography in New York, Haiti, Ireland, to Russian ex gangs and yakuza from Tokyo (pictured from Gilden's Russia photos, Sergey with his wife, Julia, a nurse. He has spent 14 years in prison and doesn’t want to go back, so is giving up the gangster life.) All of his photography from each place provokes reaction in the viewer, which is amazing. He was a very interesting man, saying he was stern but fair, and it didn't matter who he was talking to he would treat everyone the same, which is a really crazy policy, but I guess it has work for him thousands of times over. Really great talk, if not one of the best talks i've seen at school. Bruce Gilden is the man...
3.07.2011
BRUCE GILDEN - 08/03/11
Bruce Gilden is a street photographer from New York. Yesterday he came into school to give us a talk about his work. Gilden is an unusual character, who is very loud and outspoken, with a think bronx accent, but never the less a very interesting and clearly clever man, who knows what he wants and go's and gets it... or more accurately photographs it. He opened with a short talk about himself, and quoted another photographer saying about his photography 'If its not good enough, your not close enough'. His photos are just that, very up close and personal, he told us a short story about each one of his photos, each story as interesting as the next, I also liked the fact that you could make the stories that he was telling come more real in your mind, creating sub-stories from them of the subjects within his photos. He said that each one of his photos was about himself, and his feelings on the world. It was interesting, because he was saying, every person in his photos he likes, and is drawn to them somehow, and argued that he was trying to make these people look bad but put them in all their glory. His work ranges from street photography in New York, Haiti, Ireland, to Russian ex gangs and yakuza from Tokyo (pictured from Gilden's Russia photos, Sergey with his wife, Julia, a nurse. He has spent 14 years in prison and doesn’t want to go back, so is giving up the gangster life.) All of his photography from each place provokes reaction in the viewer, which is amazing. He was a very interesting man, saying he was stern but fair, and it didn't matter who he was talking to he would treat everyone the same, which is a really crazy policy, but I guess it has work for him thousands of times over. Really great talk, if not one of the best talks i've seen at school. Bruce Gilden is the man...