I met Herman Leonard this week while at A&I. I am putting together a show for them (to be announced later) and Mr. Leonard is in the final stages of putting together his solo exhibit which opens Feb. 5 at A&I's Hollywood location. Mr. Leonard is a legendary jazz photographer, and a very charming man. While he was waiting for his work to be printed in A&I's darkroom, he read the paper, surfed the Internet, drank a cup of coffee and chatted with me and my friend. We asked him about his work and he told us that one day many years ago another famous photographer told him that what he did wasn't really "art" as his photography relied on the luck of the moment. The photographer he was talking to staged and lit everything and he thought that was more work, more artistic. Mr. Leonard said true, a lot of his shots were luck, but luck because he was waiting, shooting and never stopping, he a lot of bad shots, that's how he was there for to get his great shots. He told us stories of living in Paris in the 50's, of what a great time is was to live there and that he was good friends with Cartier Bresson. He said he looked at Bresson's stacks and stacks of proof sheets, and saw a lot of nothing. No good shots. And then the one brilliant shot. "You call that luck?" has said. "I call that a good photographer." And his point was a good photographer will shoot and shoot and then find the one good shot and that's what he shows you. That's the power in editing.
I hope you can make it to the Herman Leonard show at A&I next week. It's going to be great.
Herman Leonard
A&I
feb 5: 7 - 10pm
Feb 5 - 13
1 comment:
I heard Herman Leonard give a talk last year, and it was really interesting and enjoyable. He is one of the true greats!How cool that you got to talk with him. My friend Cynthia Sesso is his friend and archivist. He has had a fascinating life... so yes, I second the Herman Leonard lecture, and thanks for telling us about it!
Post a Comment