Magnum Contact Sheets

Product Information

I very rarely get good shots. I currently shoot around 50 rolls of film a month (about 1,800 shots) and would say I only get a good shot once a month, and one great shot a year. I remember feeling this constant sense of disappointment that my “hit rate” was so low, and whenever reviewing my images from my days shooting I would feel like giving up. If I do my math correctly, my “hit rate” is only at 0.05% (a very low standard). I feel that one shot is enough. Sometimes I might feel I’m missing the so-called ‘decisive moment’, but when you accept that you’re going to shoot this way, you accept that you’ll be missing something: you win some, you lose some. I take pictures increasingly slowly, trying to make every frame count even more. I spend time watching, observing, interacting. Sometimes I feel, ‘enough’, and I put down the camera and have a bowl of tea. (p510)

I like the idea of setting reasonable expectations of yourself (such as getting 1 good shot a month and 1 great shot a year). Of course what constitutes “good” and “great” is subjective by different photographers – but by setting these standards it will keep you motivated to work hard, and realize how difficult creating a good image is.I used to believe that the fewer photos you took when out shooting in the streets, the better. Also part of it is that when I saw a good street photograph opportunity, I would get nervous and only want to take one shot and get the hell out of there. Also the joy of shooting for yourself is that it takes a tremendous pressure off your shoulders and to remind yourself that photography is about the process, not necessarily the final image. Access to Life (Group show), The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Stenersenmuseet, Oslo; United Nations, New York, Asahi Mullion, Tokyo; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

The Places We Live , solo shows Nobel Peace Center, Oslo; CO Berlin; National Building Museum, USA; CECZ, I personally believe that the editing part of photography (choosing your best images) is more difficult and than the photographing. To choose between your images is like choosing between your children — you want to keep them all but at the end of the day you have to choose one image from the scene that best describes it.

Conclusion

At their best, the pictures add to our understanding of the surface event documented and reveal something profound about the people pushing that history forward. — The Los Angeles Times One of the things that are misunderstood about the post I wrote is that people think I mean to say that film is better than digital for street photography. To clarify, I don’t mean that at all. For me personally shooting film has helped me approach street photography in a unique way that has helped me in my photographic journey. However I don’t mean to put down shooting street photography in digital in any way. Film & digital both have pros and cons, as I will explain more in-depth. I remember standing beneath the shelter of a shed as the man approached me in the rain. Choosing to take the photo was done mostly with a photographic criteria in mind.

Riboud used the constraints of his 50mm lens to frame his photograph accordingly, and also to wait for the right moment in the scene. He continues by likening the care-freeness of the painter in his photograph to how photographers should be by saying, “I think photographers should behave like him: he was free and carried little equipment”. 10. Revisit your work A Photograph from my “Dark Skies Over Tokyo” series, 2011. I originally oversaw this image, and my good friend and fellow street photographer Charlie Kirk mentioned to me that he thought it was one of my best shots. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have chosen it! With Economopoulos he discusses first choosing the subject matter (who or what to take photographs of), and then trying to select an image that have compositional elements, context, and scale which suits the photograph the best. Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam; PM Gallery, London; Visa pour l’image, Perpignan; Fotoencuentros, Murcia, Spain; Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, USA. Gives unprecedented access into the creative process of some of the world’s greatest photographers." Complex's Art + Designa magnificent compendium of raw images from the photography cooperative. — New York Times Book Review