Monday, April 15, 2013

Great Compassion

Looking through all the great photographer books this week (today Phillip Jones Griffiths, Sebastiao Salgado and a Magnum book), one thing thing comes out over and over again in the pictures, a great great compassion for the subject. Guys like Griffiths, McCullin, Smith, Koudelka and Salgado were (are) not only great technical people that produced outstanding work, they also had (have) a deep seated understanding and feeling for their subjects. The only way you risk your life and invest that much time and effort into something is if you think its worth dying over. These men all were able to translate that deep emotion and commitment into compassionate understanding photographs that shouted out the message they were sending.

I need to understand the people I photograph better, I need to get deeper into their lives, I need to make a deeper commitment than I am making now. Will be in Thai soon, time to get started!