Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Berenice Abbott

Quote by Berenice Abbott

Work

Berenice Abbott, photographer: a modern vision : a selection of photographs and essays

Berenice Abbott, photographer: a modern vision is a collection that highlights the photography of Berenice Abbott, an influential figure in the field. The book includes a curated selection of Abbott's photographs, each accompanied by insightful essays that delve into her approach to photography and the cultural context of her work. more

Author

Berenice Abbott
Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott was an American photographer born on July 17, 1898, and died on December 9, 1991. She is renowned for her photographs of urban landscapes in the United States, especially her works depicting New York City. more

You May Also Like

“The challenge for me has first been to see things as they are, whether a portrait, a city street, or a bouncing ball. In a word, I have tried to be objective. What I mean by objectivity is not the objectivity of a machine, but of a sensible human being with the mystery of personal selection at the heart of it. The second challenge has been to impose order onto the things seen and to supply the visual context and the intellectual framework - that to me is the art of photography.”

“My first priority when taking pictures is to achieve clarity. A good documentary photograph transmits the information of the situation with the utmost fidelity; achieving it means understanding the nuances of lighting and composition, and also remembering to keep the lenses clean and the cameras steady.”

“And that desire-the strong desire to take pictures-is important. It borders on a need, based on a habit: the habit of seeing. Whether working or not, photographers are looking, seeing, and thinking about what they see, a habit that is both a pleasure and a problem, for we seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel. It is the hope that we might express ourselves fully-and the evidence that other photographers have done so-that keep us taking pictures.”