Thank you so much for posting this! As someone who had the great privilege of working with Rodney for many years, it’s incredible to see this level of focus on and study of his work being shared in such a meaningful and thorough way. I’m grateful to have been able to be a fly on the wall for this conversation thanks to this channel. So so awesome. And congrats to everyone!

Thank you for this. As one for decades both a photographic artist and an activist in an international effort to plant the seeds of a new renaissance, I am fascinated by Smith and his work. He had passed when I first came across him as an artist. From a wonderful interview in his late years, conducted at his home by another photographer (who then made portraits of him), I recall his speaking about the rich ideas in Classical art, including music, and, in contrast, his feeling that culture had for some time been degenerating from that universal inspirational plane. (Paul Strand, among others, spoke similarly about the state of photography, in the late '70s.) Perhaps that would not resonate with today's audience, but I'm sorry it was only grazed with passing references in today's discussion. I did not know him and can only see through my own filters, but I feel that for anyone deeply moved by a true depth of ideas, as he was, the searching is, as Schubert set the poem The Wanderer, a search for a land that speaks that language. Every artist inspired by the greatest masters and hoping, as was mentioned of Smith, to make the world a little better, implicitly sets a high bar for his or her work, adding to whatever accidents of birth, family, and experience may create personal insecurities. Smith's Israel book, made with a 50mm on a Leica for reasons given in his epilogue, is unforgettable; likewise, some of his other early work. His composition is not merely extraordinarily precise; it is Classical in the sense of unity, and unity of effect appropriate to the subject of the image.

my hero!

"Doing God's work" but I can't remember his name. 😐 Really interesting video John. I hear Rick Rubin is one of the high compression/loudness war instigators. Is that fair?

Whats up with the background breathing noises in the video? It ruined the whole thing for Gods sake !