*Image sources listed below
In my last blog I stressed the importance of looking because many great creators look outside of themselves to find inspiration. Some look to nature others look to the past. Gary Winogrand, a famous New York City street photographer in the mid 20th century, looked to the bustling streets and the city for his inspiration. However, it was not the city and its architecture that Winogrand was so captivated by; it was the people’s lives and interactions with the city that motivated his work. So called mundane scenes that could have easily been overlooked by any passerby were captured in Winogrands photographs with the attention and zeal of capturing the energy and climate of the moment. He had an eye for capturing events and finding humor and wit in ordinary moments, these moments would later go on to portray the social issues of 1960s America (Wikipedia).
Winogrand roamed the New York streets with a 35 mm camera equip with a pre-focused wide angle lens so that he could take photos rapidly as he walked by. Many times he would not even look through the viewfinder of the camera instead he would hold the camera at the hip and shoot, as to not alarm his subjects and passerby’s. The outcome revealed shots that were tilted and off center, but they were always in tandem and a reflection of the scene and the time. Restless motion, agitated faces and very private human moments were captured in this manner. So inspired was he by these types of events, people and life that when he died in 1984 he left behind nearly 300,000 unedited images, and more than 2,500 undeveloped rolls of film (Wikipedia).
I chose Gary Winogrand to display the point that inspiration can come from just looking and observing the environment around you, even if it’s just people on the street. You don’t have get philosophical in trying to find inspiration for your work, many times it’s just as simple as seeing something interesting and taking a photo of it.
Photos courtesy of: (in order)
http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/collections/82_201.jpg
http://www.lyseo.edu.ouka.fi/kuvataide/albums/album02/winogrand.jpg
http://danielonphotography.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/winogrand_la_sidewalk.jpg
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