Bruce Gilden Does Photography Critique (courtesy of Vice.com)

Vice.com recently posted this great video of famed street photographer Bruce Gilden critiquing photographs that were submitted specifically for this purpose. The result is pretty wonderful, which is a little unexpected for me. I’m not a big fan of Bruce Gilden’s photography and even less of the way he does photography. But his critique of photography seems to coincide with my own views to a remarkable degree. In other words, I don’t care for the photographs he makes but I love how he talks and thinks about photography. He’s the complete inverse of Henri Cartier-Bresson, in my book.

What’s more, after viewing the video I think I like Bruce Gilden. This is something I wouldn’t have expected previously. You couldn’t say he really pulls his punches, but you can detect specific moments when he seems to remind himself there’s a real human being behind the photographs he’s dismissing as not very good. He criticizes the photograph, not the photographer. I’m surprised to find myself thinking this is a guy I’d quite like to meet and hang out and talk with for a while – an indication that the people who made this video did their job well.

Good marks all round.

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