CCC Forum

The BBC is celebrating the 70th anniversary of Magnum Photos with a series of programmes. It looks as though we will not see this one broadcast in London, but it will be available on iPlayer from 23 December onwards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0993mqr

I have just watched this programme and it was very worthwhile. It is too good to be shown just in Wales and hopefully it will be available nationally at some point. David Hurn is truly a gifted and inspirational photographer. Do catch it while it is still on iPlayer.

I jotted down a few quotes, but there were many others:

"Just stand in the right place and press the button at the right time." Simple, eh?

"The picture is always out there." That was something I discovered when I did my photo a day project a few years ago.

"Observe rather than look."

Regarding that last one, I never cease to be amazed at how unobservant other people can be, even fellow photographers.

Hi Mike,
Just watched the documentary on David Hurn.
Rather enjoyed it.
Up my street as I do like street and unknown people photography and enjoy speaking to subjects.
So lots of great tips there to try out.
By the way, what camera was David using for his most recent images? A Leica?
Thanks for bringing this documentary to our notice.
Iggy

Hurn said
"Observe rather than look."

When I was doing the extensive shoot at Bushy Park for my CCC talk, it was amazing how most visitors noticed so little till it was pointed out!

Happy New Year

Hi Iggy

Glad that you enjoyed the programme.

Iggy wrote:By the way, what camera was David using for his most recent images? A Leica?

Better than that, it was a Fuji X-Pro2.

The X-Pro models have retro styling and are very similar to the Leica Ms in size and form, but are much lighter as the Leicas are mainly of metal constructions.

I was having a bit of difficulty working out which lenses he was using, but they were compact and I suspect that they were the 23 and 35 f/2 primes, which would give him 35 and 50 full frame focal length equivalents respectively. Those lenses would seem to suit his style of photography. In one scene, it was possible to see the position of the aperture blades and he was shooting stopped down, at round f/5.6 is my guess, so he would not necessarily need the faster (and bigger) f/1.4 primes. The Fuji cameras do lend themselves to the use of manual focus adapted lenses (there is a Fuji made adapter for Leica M lenses), but I do not think he was doing that. The Fuji lenses are excellent in their own right and he would have the benefit of autofocus.

Anyway, nerd observations over, here is some more from David Hurn. Do note the NSFW warning for the video.

https://petapixel.com/2016/04/06/timles ... avid-hurn/

I am also going to buy the book "On Being a Photographer" which he co-wrote with Bill Jay. I have been meaning to purchase it for a while.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-Photogra ... otographer

If in the Cardiff area between now and 11 March, the exhibition of the images by other photographers which he donated to Cardiff Museum would be worthwhile as well.

https://museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/96 ... ollection/

I have now had a chance to look at the second video to which I provided a link and David Hurn talks about the cameras he uses at two points. At around 5:03 he says that his style of photography requires a small camera and at 8:01 we see him with a Fuji X100. Link below. A bit later on he seems to have it in Programme mode ......

https://youtu.be/dlzvFRe1ovU?t=481

There is a reported sighting of him with a Fuji X100 at this link. That is quite boring, so I recommend skipping on to the post where his views on the approach to photography are recorded. That is far more interesting. The same goes for the YouTube video as well, especially the bit where he says equipment is unimportant.

https://www.fujix-forum.com/threads/fam ... 741/page-4

BTW, he is definitely seen with an X-Pro2 in the BBC documentary, just in case anyone is wondering.

At the very beginning he had a Retina before buying a secondhand Contax, which he took to Hungary in 1956 and used until he earned enough to afford Leica equipment. The gear section is mercifully brief and he then starts showing some of his images from the start of his career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aSxWBVVbTc

David Hurn would make a great speaker for our CCC Wratten Lecture.
Shame he lives in Wales and not in London.
Do we have any other kind and friendly Magnum photographers that we know living in London?
Iggy

Iggy wrote:David Hurn would make a great speaker for our CCC Wratten Lecture.

Rather than assume what his response will be, why not ask him? The worst that can happen is that he declines or is too expensive.

Iggy wrote:Do we have any other kind and friendly Magnum photographers that we know living in London?Iggy

Magnum would be best placed to answer that question.

http://pro.magnumphotos.com/ContactUs#/ ... ame:MAX_17

Mike Said:
Rather than assume what his response will be, why not ask him?

That's not for me but Council to do.

Iggy

I guess even when Hurn moved to digital cameras, he relied on careful composition before shooting rather than use Photoshop or Lightroom. Or does he?
Read another article about his love for mundane photos.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mv5bnq/david-hurn-photographs-sublime-moments-in-mundane-life

Hurn said:
I decided then that one of the major projects I would do is photograph my village. That's what I do now. It's so interesting—you go to the Women's Book Society and see eight women discussing a book they have read. I find it incredibly interesting but incredibly difficult, too. It's very mundane. And if you aren't careful you start to play tricks to overcome that, with a new lens, or Photoshop, or whatever, but actually what you have to do is end up with photos that are basically boring—where the only interest comes from small details and gestures.

http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/photography/david-hurn-photography-interview/

Asked: This brings us to the question: does that mean you’re opposed to the idea of taking a photo and then working on it in an editing suite afterwards?
Speaking hesitantly, Hurn said:
Well, it depends If you’re trying to change what you feel is the truth of the picture, that, I think, is boring. I mean basically all people do in Photoshop is make bad pictures worse; doesn’t make them better by suddenly having a purple sky or something like that. It’s a cover up of the fact that the picture isn’t very good in the first place. Having said that, our eyes see differently from a camera. What we used to do under an enlarger is what we used to call ‘dodge’ and ‘burn,’ and so you would bring out the highlights and keep back the shadows. And all you’re trying to do there is get back to what you fantasised you visually were seeing. So to do what one did under an enlarger seems reasonable.
“It’s difficult to genuinely be observing, it’s very easy to see, but it’s very difficult to get it more precise than that. But the fact that it is so difficult is what makes it fun. If it was easy it would be boring. You might as well go and work in Tesco’s.”

A man after my own heart!
But what to do? I belong to a camera club!
Iggy