 Now, how's it guys? The most important book in the history of photography. It is John Mayovitz's Seeing Things, a kid's guide to looking at photographs. It shows them the important things in photography and by looking at these important things, we can get inspired as well. You know, you look through this book and it is a gold mine, a fantastic imagery. You know, look at this, this is a wonderful picture. You know, this is a photographer called Sally Gao and here he's talking about light and happiness. What wonderful themes. How can you find a tutorial that's gonna teach you about light and happiness? You know, he says here, and this is what I love also about this book, that is broken down in a lovely conversational sort of way. The John Mayovitz says, people are asking me all the time, how do I know what to take a picture of? And our answer, whatever it is that makes you stop, photograph that, he then goes on to explain. With this photograph, Sally Gao shows us how surprising and sculptural laundry can be. Does that not encourage somebody to pick up a camera, to go out and to just photograph the things? It is so refreshing to see ideas in photography broken down into simple, easy to digest and understand statements. They are suggestions. There's nothing in here that says you must do this or you must do that. And, you know, this is not technical talk. This is not talking about how you do this and exposures and all this kind of stuff. None of those things exist in this book. It's more about the pure joy of looking at it. You know, here's some Marianna Mark, you know, the man, you know, the elephant around his neck and it's the same sort of idea again. You know, he's talking about the right moment. This is obviously, you know, Cardi Bresson kind of territory, you know, the decisive moment and stuff, but it's broken down for children. It's two pages. It's two pages telling you, telling a child what they need to know. That, you know, the elephant is so magnificent that you might think this is what this photograph is about. Joel Myvitz goes on to say, you know, when I first saw the picture, I was excited by the physical presence of the elephant in the ways every trunk looped around the trainer's neck. But then he goes on to say that, you know, Marianna Mark was quick to notice the little details, give the picture the, it's grace. And this is where the benefit of learning to actually absorb a photograph comes in. You know, he's talking about the belt, the trainer's hands, the bracelets, also perfectly positioned that they follow the curve, the belt, which echoes the loop of the trunk. Now, these are all the tiny things that when you're looking to improve your photography are so vital to elevating a little bit, to be aware of these kind of things. So when you go back to basics with a book like this that is written by a man who has an enthusiastic and infectious passion for photography and a knowledge to pass on, it only can help you better. You know, our old friend, William Eggleston, always gets to surface around here on the channel, doesn't he? But here, always using as an example is to say, look as familiar as a bottle of soda is, here it is, presented as a luminous, floating double image of itself. And then going on to say that the fact that Eggleston stopped to photograph this surprising moment of beauty reminds us to look more carefully to remember the most banal objects, most commonplace afternoons contain unexpected mystery and wonder. And I also, you know, one of the, we so often don't get exposed to, you know, photographers who have gone before us. There was, you know, the example earlier with the billowing, you know, the laundry, that's a new photographer. Here we have, you know, this lovely dramatic image, which I'm sure many of you have seen before, I'm gonna peek around the side here like that, of, you know, Paul Strand. Talking about eye contact and how important it is in an image, I love this, you know, taking a simple contact, contact, I'm getting tripped off by the book here, taking a simple concept and explaining it in a way that the kids go, okay, love it, get it. We don't need to talk about the background here. We don't need to talk about, you know, where this was taken and everything was going on and the zone system and the user lens and stuff. We wanna talk about the eye contact, why the eye contact makes this photograph so powerful. So then hopefully the next time somebody goes off, a child, you, and you're taking pictures of people that you go, aha, I remember that simple concept and I'm gonna put it into practice to give my images more connection, more personality, more depth. So many people, I think go through life, they are given a camera, they're given the opportunity to take photographs and there is a lack of information that goes beyond the technical and that's what makes me sad. I don't like the fact. The basics of seeing are not being passed on to people. I want my little boy to go off to the world and not to see it in just the ways that everybody else is telling you to sit, that he gets told your color inside the lines, do all these things. And a book like this, the seeing things, John Mayovitz in this, and it is a slim volume, it's not a huge book, right? Has wrapped up in an easy to digest, wonderful way of looking. Everything that I get excited about photography that I want to share with my little boy, we share with you to say, look, these are photographs that, often people will show them. Say, look at this photograph, isn't this proper, well-meaning photograph or something, like all the art classes that we had at school where people were just like, oh, well, you just, this is important because I say so. If we also take the time to give the photographers of the future a roadmap that says this is how you speak with this medium. This is the things you can do. Now take those ideas and run with them. And there's this picture of Lee Friedlander with the shadow, he looks like he's got some sort of crazy hair sort of thing going on there, which I love. Also, that's a really good point. A lot of these photographs are not heavy. They're not meaningful. They are photographs that once, like the text, have a simple purpose. There's not too much in them. They're amusing, they're fun. The kids are gonna love looking at them. Is this your shadow? Seems to just tag along. But you animate it, you are its director. And Joel goes on to talk about, you know, Friedlander was always on the lookout for new ways to see what trouble his shadow can get into and how much fun he can have watching it. If this channel can do half as much, even a quarter, a fraction, of instilling inspiration into photographers, but new and old, new and experienced, young and old, then we will have done our job, that we will have helped to inspire people, to not let these ideas disappear. These, the people who are sharing these things, you know, Joel is not a young man. Sorry, Joel, right? And there is a window that is closing of knowledgeable people who are willing to share their experiences, their knowledge, their passion, their enthusiasm with the younger generation, in a way that is accessible. As I've been talking, I've got Alborado, so again, me with the names, you know, Alborado Morel, and I'm sure if I mispronounced that, but this is, look at these lovely beams of light. I'll put the picture up on screen because this light, this light is killing that light. You know, somebody's talking about seeing the light, that light is elemental and is everywhere, it's sunlight, moonlight, starlight, firelight, streetlight, candlelight, even as lasers and neon. All right, and in, he talks about, you know, to see the light is to understand something more clearly or in a new way. As Alborado Morel's photograph of light is feeling beams falling in a polka-dotted pattern on the floor, it's encouraging thought in photography. I have not been as inspired to take a photograph or to try something new, to go out and, you know, see what I can find as I have been by this book. This book, and this is actually the second copy that I have of it, I don't have actually to go, this second copy I've bought, I gave another one to a friend of mine's son, you know, in the hope, I think the most powerful introduction to this art form that is at once both technical and aesthetic, you know, and we need to spend more time cherishing, encouraging and promoting the aesthetic, because when we do that, our work improves. We can make not more meaningful work, but work that resonates with people and we can help to give the people coming behind us a guide that says, you know, there is more to making images than just crazy processing or whatever it is you wanna do. Make things with substance too. If you'd like to find out more about Joel Maivitz's actual photography, and it is lovely, I think it's wonderful, check out this video over here. Thank you ever so much for watching and I will see you again soon.