1st Artist Lecture for Spring Semester

Honestly I went to this lecture not knowing a thing about Alec Soth, except that the turnout to his talk was supposed to be unreal. When I got there I was disappointed in the turnout as the theater was only half full. When Alec started talking about how we, as photographers, are essentially wasting our time it depressed me even more. These are words that I have heard other photographers say and that we have discussed in classes more than once. That there are so many new images everyday and most of them equally good to what we can do as professionals, what's the point in taking more pictures at all. I thought for sure he would be an appropriation artist, but was happy to find out he was not.

I enjoyed the concepts he put forth and the way he was able to story tell about the way he approached story telling in his work. I found his story and image of the most beautiful woman in Georgia ( http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/georgian-spring-alec-soth ) to be humorous because he found her and was not able to take a picture of her face. So all we have of proof that she exists is a quick snapshot of her back in a small group.

One thing I really liked about his lecture was all the reading he suggested for us. I can't wait to find Paul Graham's “Shimmer of Possibilities” which Alec deemed the most important book to read. As well as look at all the many artists he suggested. Finding "How to story tell on radio." by Ira Glass on Utube is what I will be doing as soon as this post is up.

I was glad to hear that by the end of Alec's talk he was still positive about the photo industry even with the millions of images we are bombarded with everyday and relieved to know that even in this digital age he saw hope for us as a profession if we find our way to tell our stories through our work.

www.alecsoth.com