bill cunningham: a review

A few things before we start the review.

First, this is collaboration between Josh and I. Second, we are nerds. Big nerdy nerds. We love art, in this instance photography, and we will watch any documentary about the subject that we come across. Josh could go into a deep philosophical rambling about art and life and a defense of photography as an art form and so forth, but that’s not the point. The point is we are really into photography.

Third, we love simplicity. What I mean by that is that we love looking at things at their smallest, most basic parts. Get rid of everything that is excessive or over the top. We like clean…clean lines, clean design, clean houses, clean children, clean layouts…you get the idea. We don’t care for what we consider excessive Photoshopping or distracting composition. All I want in a picture is sharp focus and a clear subject, that is properly framed. Which is also how I like life: sharp focus and clear direction.

Okay, that should pretty much get you set for our point of view.

I watched Bill Cunningham New York one night when Josh was at work. I liked it so much that I wanted to watch it again with Josh. We have since watched it another time together. The film documents the work of Bill Cunningham, the most famous fashion photographer you have probably never heard of. It follows Bill through various cuts from his apartment at Carnegie Hall (that needs to be seen to be believed) to the streets of NYC where he takes candid photos of people going about their day. His work is published in the New York Times under a column titled On The Street.

He talks about looking for what’s interesting and finding something that moves him. He doesn’t care at all for celebrities and he isn’t particularly fashionable himself. He wears these cheap blue blazers simply because they’re cheap. When it rains he uses a plastic rain poncho with duct tape over the holes. Money is not important to him. He eats the same thing at the same place for breakfast because of the price. He says at one point in the film that “If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do…” In his eighties, he goes everywhere by bicycle. Basically he lives to find beautiful things and shoot them. Simply awesome, this guy.

This documentary really affected me. I have so much admiration for Bill Cunningham. He has continued to do something he loved in a way that he chose. He wasn’t affected by money, or what others thought he should do. He just kept doing it how he always did. He said this at one point, “It is as true today as it ever was – He who seeks beauty will find it”.

Anyway, I could go on but you just need to watch this movie for yourselves. You can thank me later.