What Burt Glinn has Taught Me About Photography

“I think that what you’ve got to do is discover the essential truth of the situation, and have a point of view about it.”

Burt glinn

Burt Glinn— one of the original American magnum photographers. Truly great photographer, and I don’t really know anyone photographer who mentions him.

I like his courage

CUBA. La Havana. 1959. The American photographer Burt Glinn with Fidel CASTRO’s march partisans.

Burt Glinn embedding himself with the Castro revolutionaries in Cuba. What guts!

His favorite photo

From Wikipedia:

When asked in an interview which of his images he most closely identifies with, Glinn replied that without a doubt it is the picture showing the back of Nikita Khrushchev‘s head in front of the Lincoln Memorial:

I was late and I couldn’t get to where everybody else was, in front of Khrushchev, so I came running up and I was in the back of him. And I looked up and there it was. I got two shots of that and then it disintegrated. If I’d been on time I would have gotten a very ordinary picture of Khrushchev and Henry Cabot Lodge looking at this statue of Lincoln but you couldn’t see the statue. The most important thing that a photographer like me can have is luck, you know.[1]

Great compositions

Getting close to his subjects, layers. His great project on Hugh Hefner’s behind the scenes life.


MASTERS

“He without a past has no future.”

Start here:

  1. How to Become a Master Photographer
  2. Why Study the Masters of Photography?
  3. Great Female Master Photographers
  4. Cheat Sheet of the Masters of Photography
  5. 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
  6. Beginner’s Guide to the Masters of Street Photography
  7. Download All Articles >

The Masters of Photography

Prague, 1968. Josef Koudelka / Magnum Photos
Prague, 1968. Josef Koudelka / Magnum Photos

Classics never die:


Eric Kim Newsletter

For more inspirational free resources, join ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER and be the first to get exclusive content, access to books, presets, and new upcoming workshops.


Start here