Sareesh,
Was a time I would buy photography magazines just for the very release to which you refer.
I now find so much additional information online about people of whom my earlier knowledge was limited to the magazines that I'd actually read. It's amazing to realise, just from concentrating on a few old favourites, how much about them was unknown to me until the possibilities of the Internet.
I was always very interested in reading about other photographers who'd impress me with their pictures; it's one thing appreciating the work, but another thing altogether discovering how their minds work/worked. I suppose that because I know just how much dedication it took to stay in the business, I find the minds of these other people so fascinating and their stories so rewarding. It's not really much to do with fanboyism - though I do admire the pix - rather is it an interest in trying to understand their motivation and route to being who they became. In the end, people are what really matter the most in art, the machinations of the marketplace something quite else and probably beyond them themselves. That disillusion might creep in with to much knowledge is a risk I'm prepared to take!
Absolutely. Just saw 'In no great hurry' - a documentary about Saul Leiter in his studio, essentially a storage of disorganized memories. You look at all the great vertical images he shot (he still shoots vertical, with a Panasonic Lumix I believe - doesn't get any more modest than that), and then he says something like: I've got a thing for raindrops on windows. You don't find things like that in a camera manual.
What I learn from these videos (all made possible because of the Internet) is
how things are done. It's priceless.
The withdrawal symptoms that a dead Internet might provoke are horrific to contemplate.
Rob C
It only took about 100,000 years after man climbed down from the trees, so we can now climb up back again and live our entire lives on the Internet.
On a serious note: In my unimportant opinion, a dead Internet would be the lowest point in the history of mankind. It's not because of the free flow of information blah blah, it's because man has a history of creating borders and making things difficult. It's amazing how this was
allowed to happen.
Back to photographers, to complement my previous link, I link to another travel photographer who shoots with a Canon DSLR and strobe, and whose $12 ebook I bought:
http://www.mitchellkphotos.com/Two different ways to make travel photography - same technique - camera + one soft box. One uses modest DSLRs and a small Photoflex, the other uses a P65+ with Prophoto and Elinchrom gear. They both look happy.
For those who loved LP covers - even bought the damned things just for their covers:
http://www.wschupfer.com/photographers/anton-corbijn/album-covers
Thanks for this one! Big fan of REM, and now I know who shot the cover.