“If a medium is representational by nature of the realistic image formed by a lens, I see no reason why we should stand on our heads to distort that function. On the contrary, we should take hold of that very quality, make use of it, and explore it to the fullest.” IfsShouldReasonUseQualityFunctionPhotographerContraryMediumsReason WhyNo ReasonRealisticLenses Book:Berenice Abbott, photographer: a modern vision : a selection of photographs and essays Source: Berenice Abbott, photographer: a modern vision : a selection of photographs and essays
“To chart a course, one must have a direction. In reality, the eye is no better than the philosophy behind it. The photographer creates, evolves a better, more selective, more acute eye by looking ever more sharply at what is going on in the world. Like every other means of expression, photography, if it is to be utterly honest and direct, should be related to the life of the times-the pulse of today. The photograph may be presented as finely and artistically as you will, but to merit serious consideration, must be directly connected with the world we live in.” IfsWorldShouldMayMeanPhilosophyRealityEyeTodayCoursesBehindsHonestSeriousExpressionPhotographyDirectPhotographerPhotographConnectedEvolveMeritRelatedConsiderationPulseSelective Author:Berenice Abbott
“I'm not a nice girl; I'm a photographer. (On being told by a Federal Art Project official, after she photographed the Bowery, that a nice girl should not go into such neighborhoods )” ShouldArtGirlNiceProjectsPhotographerOfficialsNeighborhoodNice GirlArt Projects Author:Berenice Abbott
“Let us first say what photography is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term-selectivity.” ShouldFirstsTermSimpleQualityPaintingExercisePhotographyPhotographerPhotographTechniqueSignificantStatementsPrintSheerDocumentsSymphonyPretty Picture Author:Berenice Abbott
“None. They should just go out and photograph and stop talking about it. That's the only way they are going to find themselves. They can't do it in their heads - they have to go out and do it in the camera and get it on film.” WayShouldFilmTalkingCamerasPhotograph Author:Berenice Abbott
“Like every other means of expression, photography, if it is to be utterly honest and direct, should be related to the life of the times - the pulse of today.” IfsShouldMeanTodayHonestExpressionPhotographyDirectPhotographRelatedPulse Author:Berenice Abbott
