Alec Soth Workshop

Alec Soth — Magnum Photos member, author of "Sleeping by the Mississippi" and "Niagara" — reviews my photobook dummies "Fake Party" and "The Shapetshifter" during a two-day workshop at Cesuralab, Pianello Val Tidone, Italy. January 2011. Unscripted. Unedited beyond pacing. The conversation that built much of the editorial eye behind The Photo Fatalist. Soth on sequencing, on "too many pictures," on "the Democratic Forest is overgrown," on the question that has stayed with me for fifteen years: is the book for others, or for yourself? I never applied his advice to those dummies. I self published Fake Party with all its overgrowth. Every project I have edited since has been quietly reorganised by this afternoon. Part of The Photo Fatalist · Feedback from the Masters. 00:00 Intro / Initial Photo Book Review 03:00 Rinko Kawauchi Workshop & Design Choices 05:58 "Shape-shifting": Acting, Fiction, and Raising Kids 07:51 The Purpose of the Book & Point-and-Shoot Cameras 08:42 Alec Soth's Verdict: "Too Many Pictures" 10:29 Analyzing Visual Rhythm (Flow) & Transitions 12:30 The Danger of Over-Publishing (The Snapchat Style) 13:26 William Eggleston, "The Democratic Forest", & Photographing Everything 14:35 The Absolute Need for Narrative Shape 16:39 The Problem with Serial Publishing & The Element of Surprise 18:18 Alec's Conclusion: Good Sequencing Can't Fix Bad Content