Archive for February, 2009
Moments and missives from our world
February
09
2009
Soul Rebel by David Burnett
David Burnett is a great photographer and a very very good person. Â I’ve learned a great deal from him over the years, both with what he has said, and also with how he has seen the world. Â There are two prints that hang on my office wall, one is by David, and one is by Robert Capa. Â Good company for either of those guys.
His first serious solo exhibition opened last week in DC, showing a set of pictures he made in 1976 and 1977 of Bob Marley in Jamaica and in Europe. Â “Soul Rebel” collects these portfolios in a gorgeous volume which arrived in the office today.
David’s path of chasing stories and moments began in Utah in the early 1960s, and continued this evening with a local story for him, covering his tenth occupant of 1600 Penn. Ave. Â Through the years, he has been able to bring home THE picture, even when 100 other photographers are trying to see it and shoot it simultaneously.
“As a photographer I operate on the principle that there are a whole bunch of interesting people out there that I just haven’t gotten a chance to meet yet,” writes DB. Â ”That’s what makes photography so much fun. Â You could go in any direction, from music or politics to literary figures and athletes… it was a real learning and discovery process.”
Not a bad way to approach any assignment…
February
01
2009
Phelps in the water
News surfaced on the weekend of some of Michael Phelps’ activities in South Carolina this fall — with a water pipe and not in the water — which he described as “regrettable” and demonstrating “bad judgement.”
What does this have with photography?
Great judgement was shown by Sports Illustrated photographer Heinz Kluetmeier in Beijing, where he rigged a remote camera underneath the lanes when Phelps came closest to being beaten on his golden swims.
This amazed me when I first saw it, since this was one of the defining stories of the Beijing-a-Palooza, and Heinz once again came up with a way of showing something which the ordinary person could not see. And the gold medal for swimming coverage goes to…
See the finish frame by frame here.