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Quote by William Klein

“I have always loved the amateur side of photography, automatic photographs, accidental photographs with uncentered compositions, heads cut off, whatever. I incite people to make their self-portraits. I see myself as their walking photo booth.”

Quote by William Klein

Author

William Klein, born in April 1928, is a renowned photographer from the United States. His work is known for its unique perspective and bold composition style, which has had a profound impact on 20th-century photography. more

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“Sometimes, I'd take shots without aiming, just to see what happened. I'd rush into crowds - bang! bang! ... It must be close to what a fighter feels after jabbing and circling and getting hit, when suddenly there's an opening, and bang! Right on the button. It's a fantastic feeling.”

Feels Sometimes Feelings Happened Shots Crowds Opening Fighter Fantastic Buttons Bangs

Author:William Klein

“I have always done the opposite of what I was trained to do... Having little technical background, I became a photographer. Adopting a machine, I do my utmost to make it malfunction. For me, to make a photograph is to make an anti-photograph.”

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“I thought New York had it coming, that it needed a kick in the balls. When I returned to New York, I wanted to get even. Now I had a weapon, photography.”

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“Anybody who pretends to be objective isn't realistic.”

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Book:Cinema outsider: the films of William Klein : a nationally touring retrospective

Source: Cinema outsider: the films of William Klein : a nationally touring retrospective

“So much of what we know, and what we think we know, about the land has first passed through someone's lens. The interesting thing is to make use of this history, not merely to be absorbed into it. For me, landscape photographs begin as the artifacts of personal moments. They get interesting when they become cultural commentary.”

Thinking Knows Firsts Moments Use Interesting Land Photograph Landscape Lenses Interesting Things Commentary Artifacts

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“The most prevalent way of working in photography right now is project oriented: you go after an idea. I like the old way, the intuitive approach. You follow your nose and take pictures and see what emerges. It happens after the fact.”

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“I am interested in making photographs which comment on the experience of a place as well as describe it. My position has not typically been one of advocacy for or against any political position. But I regard photographs as commentary, and that includes, at times, taking a specific political viewpoint on an issue.”

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“I am not much interested in discovering new territories to photograph. Instead, what I wish my pictures could do is lessen the distance one often feels when looking at landscape photographs... The longer I work, the more important it is to me to make photographs that tell my story as a participant, and not just an observer of the land.”

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“Fine-art photography is a very small world associated with galleries, museums, and university art programs. It's not like rock music; the products of this world have never been widely seen because the artists are often exploring things that are not already coded in general consciousness. It's not that photographers don't want to be famous, it's just that very few of the views from the edges of culture make the mainstream. Ansel Adams was an exception.”

“In this world, the spots where the present seems to overlap the past are the most important. These are the points when one becomes aware that the direction of the world can change.”

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