Home / Quotes / Quote by Eugene Richards

Quote by Eugene Richards

“I can photograph someone if I can touch them.”

Author

Eugene Richards, born on April 25, 1944, is a renowned photographer known for his profound social documentary style, capturing the true face of American society across various levels. more

“I chose to be a photographer twenty-two years ago, but I don't know that I'd make that choice again. Back in the early eighties, I still thought I was doing okay, trying to order and shape the world with my camera. Now that I know a bit more about living and dying, about our planet and its complex problems, I'm a lot less comfortable with my images of people. Still, I haven't a clue what else to do.”

“Photojournalist? With a few exceptions, those of us working as photojournalists might now more appropriately call ourselves illustrators. For, unlike real reporters, whose job it is to document what's going down, most of us go out in the world expecting to give form to the magazine, or to newspaper editor's ideas, using what's become over the years a pretty standardized visual language. So we search for what is instantly recognizable, supportive of the text, easiest to digest, or most marketable - more mundane realities be damned.”

“My biggest problem is I'm so uninteresting that all these people forget I'm around.”

People Problem Forget

Author:Eugene Richards

“...it is pretentious for photographers to believe that their pictures alone change things. If they did, we wouldn't be besieged by war, by incidents of genocide, by hunger. A more realistic assessment of photography's value is to point out that it is illustrative of what's going on, that it provides a record of history, that photographs can prompt dialogue.”

Ifs Believe War Values Records Photography Photographer Photograph Hunger Dialogue Realistic Genocide Incidents Assessment Pretentious Prompts

Author:Eugene Richards

“It's a process of getting to know people. That's what photography is to me. It's about paying attention, not screwing up and blowing a great opportunity.”

People Knows Opportunity Process Attention Photography Pay Attention Great Opportunity

Author:Eugene Richards

“I have always photographed loneliness because that is my life.”

Loneliness

Author:Bob Richardson

“Today, in American imperialism, the commodity has reached its most grandiose historical manifestation.”

Today Historical Manifestation Commodity Imperialism Grandiose American Imperialism

Author:C. L. R. James

“I wanted to put reality in my photographs. Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. That's what was happening. And I was going to help make it happen. Boy, they did not want that in America.”

Want Helping Reality Happens Wanted America Sex Boys Rocks Drug Happenings Photograph Rock N Roll Make It Happen Sex Drugs

Author:Bob Richardson

“Sexuality, eroticism and desire are important for all of us. But that is also the contradiction. How can we speak about pictures and, for example, say no to this way of representing a woman's body? It's also a camera-and-object problem, of who is really guiding the camera.”

Way Important Problem Body Desire Speak Example Objects Cameras Sexuality Contradiction Representing Women's Bodies

Author:Pipilotti Rist

“Women are less interested in watching two people having sex than in understanding how and what these people are feeling when they are having sex. If you kiss someone, you want to know what the other person is feeling. So I want to find pictures that express what the other feels.”

People Ifs Knows Want Feels Persons Two Feelings Sex Understanding Kissing Having Sex

Author:Pipilotti Rist

Quote by Eugene Richards

Author

You May Also Like