Garry Winogrand: “I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.”

I could not have been more excited to see the Garry Winogrand exhibit. It was a long day traveling through the city, the same day as the Brooklyn Museum workshop at the Macaulay building. When I arrived at the Metropolitan Museum, it took my breath away. The building was just so majestic and enormous; it quickly lifted my mood. When I reached the Garry Winogrand exhibit, I realized that my day was going to be an emotional rollercoaster. My first feeling was disappointment. It looked as if Garry Winogrand took pictures of things to see what they would look like in pictures. His photographs had me wondering if I took a random picture of a woman in a crowded city, or a picture of a man in a telephone booth, or maybe a picture of a soldier walking in a street, would it be art? Would it be beautiful? No, perhaps my photos would not be art or beautiful because I wouldn’t know how to capture it. I cannot predict what it would like in a photograph. I think that Garry Winogrand had the talent to picture in his mind what a subject would look like in a photograph. Perhaps he would argue against this, but then how would he know what to shoot and what not to shoot. There was a quote by Garry Winogrand in one of the rooms that read, “I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.” I silently laughed to myself the first time I read this because it was exactly what I thought Garry Winogrand did. But looking back, there was something exciting knowing that Winogrand looked at something, thought “What would this look like photographed?” and just took a photo of it. What’s really funny to me now is that I learned a lot about the photographer, versus the subjects of the photos. I learned that Winogrand was known for street photography, shooting in crowded and dense cities. He also photographed animals in a zoo (don’t ask which one), but the most important thing I learned is that this artist enjoyed taking photographs. He had a passion for shooting pictures. Garry Winogrand’s exhibition taught me to remember the simple things and to find art in the things all around me. I not only learned to appreciate the simple photos, but I also learned to appreciate the love Garry Winogrand had for simply taking pictures.