James Estrin is a staff photographer at The Times and a co-editor of Lens, and studied under Jerome Liebling in the late ’70s. He found the lectures thrilling, yet frustrating because Liebling refused to teach about techniques.
Jerry Liebling’s photography classes — at least in the late ’70s, when I studied under him — consisted mostly of his lecturing about everything but photography. He would talk about Greek philosophy, German history, Jungian psychology, 16th-century Flemish painting and French cinema. In the same lecture! Only rarely would the names of Edward Weston or Lewis Hine come into the conversation. Then, a half-hour would be devoted to his tough critiques of our photographs.
In this Parting Glance: Jerome Liebling, 1924-2011″”, he talks about Liebling’s influence on him developing as a photographer and a photography teacher. Now, Estrin finds himself telling his students that “photography is about […] the story you have to tell. The camera is just a tool.”
Read the article at: LENS.