Seldom a Great Picture

"It's seldom you make a great picture. You have to milk the cow quite a lot and get plenty  milk to make a little cheese. Hmm?"

From the short film—really an audio recording—Cornell Capa made of Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1973. Available on DVD from Microcinema.

The last time I saw this was when Frank DiPerna showed it to our third-year photo class at the Corcoran School in 1984. Nice to hear it again.

Mike
(Thanks to Tom Kaszuba)

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Edi Weitz: "Matching the 'you have to milk the cow' quote is the wonderful insight that 'your first 10,000 photographs are your worst' which I think (?) is also from HCB. Thanks for the link!"

Comments

[Carsten Bockermann]

>>Available on DVD from Microcinema

I'd say 24.95 Euros (about US$ 35) for an 18 minute video is a bit stiff...

[Mike Johnston]

I didn't say it was a good deal. I just said it was available on DVD. Might come in handy for photography teachers wanting to show it to classes. I assume individuals will be content to view it in its entirety on the web. Suit yourself.

Mike

[charwck]

Many. many thanks for linking that wonderful film. Just long enough and rich with insight.

[Jeff Warden]

" . . . after a certain age you've got the face you deserve, I think."

Excellent.

:-)

[Carl L]

Thanks, Tom & Mike. Black & White, love it.

[David Zivic]

Thank you Mike for sharing a wonderful and inspiring film.

[Anton Wilhelm Stolzing]

'your first 10,000 photographs are your worst' is a quote by Helmut Newton.
What many people do not know about HCB: He shot a lot. He was not happy if he had not filled two films before breakfast.

[Chris Y.]

Great anecdote about HCB in the Lens blog today, which is interesting in itself:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/intimate-moments-in-the-african-diaspora/

[Bernd Reinhardt]

'your first 10,000 photographs are your worst'

Make that 100,000, now that we are digital and snapping more carelessly.

[kevin]

A songwriter friend claims that everyone has a certain number of bad songs in them. The faster you get them out of your system, the better.

[Paul Luscher]

Glad to hear that quote.

There are times when I come back from shooting, look at my stuff and go, "Sucks....sucks....sucks...yeah, that one's OK...sucks....sucks....sucks...."

Can be discouraging to have only one or two out of 36 that look any good, no matter how hard you tried. So, nice to see it was quite often the same for The Great Ones...

[Ken White]

What an insightful presentation of the fundamental photographic practice of HCB. I've read most of the information presented in the documentary before but it has more impact for me when I hear the man explain his image making.

[hugh crawford]

Some photographers and other artists start out brilliantly than go into a horrible slump when they try to figure out what it is that they are doing. Jacques Henri Lartigue is the only famous photographer that comes to mind he had a pretty good run until he hit his slump and puberty about the same time. Something about doing work only to please yourself as opposed to impressing others seems to be part of it.

Just for fun if you are ever at a party where writers, editors, and alcohol* are present say something like "so what's all this I hear about second novel syndrome?"

*and no knives, forks, or your sharper types of spoons

[Matthew Allen]

I like to think that in photography, sometimes you milk the squirrel and sometimes the squirrel milks you.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2006-10-08/

(Or if you prefer: "In Soviet Russia, squirrel milks you." With apologies to Mr Smirnoff.)

[Richard Man]

Q: What do you call one or two good pictures out of a roll?
A: A great photo session.

:-)

[Carsten Bockermann]

After finally having watched the video I must admit that I was wrong on first impulse. While the video is short, it gives of lot of insight into how HCB worked and thought. I found it fascinating to hear many things that have been written about from himself.