Capture Moments
“TO BE AN ARTIST, TO BE A
PHOTOGRAPHER, YOU HAVE TO
NURTURE THE THINGS THAT MOST
PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO DISCARD. YOU
HAVE TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN ORDER
TO TAP THEM.”
~RICHARD AVEDON, DARKNESS AND LIGHT
By Bryan Farley
I
was not always a Richard Avedon fan. I did not
even have a good reason for not liking him,
except that I had created a Richard AvedonIrving Penn rivalry, and I had chosen Penn. Like
most people, I was unwilling to discard my false
belief even after I realized it was my creation. I would
encourage you to learn from my mistake and allow
yourself to be inspired by Avedon (and Penn).
Avedon photographed his fears and “madness.” He
photographed what he didn’t understand without the
camera. He also photographed his interests. When I
conceived this article, I was going to share the darker
side of my photography, but I realized that I was in the
process of nurturing other interests. I decided to share
one of the projects here because I also think it might
help student photo journalism in the digital age.
Five years ago, I worked one year at San Marin High
School in Novato, Calif. The school opened in 1968,
the same year I was born. Most people would consider
it “a good public school.” There were about 1,000
students. Our sports programs played Division 111.
The year I worked at San Marin, the boys’ basketball
team won its first North Coast Section Boys’ Basketball
Championship. We upset the eventual state runner-up,
the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons, to win NCS. We also lost
to them in the state tournament.
Somehow, I was there with my camera. I kept the
photos until last month, and I organized about 120
pictures into a photo book. I sent the book to the