Lessons David Chim Seymour Has Taught Me About Photography

‘All you need is a little bit of luck and enough muscle to click the shutter.’ – David “Chim” Seymour

CHIM— along with Henri Cartier Bresson and Robert Capa— co founder of Magnum, and one of the original OG’s.

Epic visions

Epic sights.

Shoot with your heart

Soldier kisses his son goodbye, Spain. Photo by CHIM, 1936. © Estate of David Seymour (CHIM)/Magnum, //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.37988

“Chim picked up his camera the way a doctor takes his stethoscope out of his bag, applying his diagnosis to the condition of the heart; his own was vulnerable.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Shooting your photos like a doctor — with your heart!

Triple camera like a boss

Documenting life

Blind Boy, Who Lost His Arms in the War, Reading with His Lips, Rome, Italy, 1948
Copyright David “Chim” Seymour/Magnum Photos

Memento mori

Arturo Toscanini in his Library, with Death Masks of Beethoven, Wagner and Verdi, Milan, Italy, 1954
Copyright David “Chim” Seymour/Magnum Photos/The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Gift of Ben Shneiderman

Chim tragically died in machine gun fire in Egypt. Perhaps this is a chance for us to NOT take ourselves and life for granted.

Photographing children

Chim children of Europe

Chim’s “Children of Europe”

Legacy

Speaking with your photos

Equipment

Moving photos

Photos of Chim which moved me:

MASTERS

“He without a past has no future.”

Start here:

The Masters of Photography

Prague, 1968. Josef Koudelka / Magnum Photos

Classics never die: