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Quote by John Pfahl

“It would have been possible to structure my photographs in such a way that no indicators of the present were discernible. However, I wanted to incorporate into the project as a whole the jostling of time-frames I would feel as I set up my tripod on various rocky promontories.”

Quote by John Pfahl

Author

John Pfahl, born on February 17, 1939, is a renowned photographer known for his unique perspective and profound depiction of natural landscapes. more

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“I often wondered why I was attracted to certain landscapes and not others and why my photographs (and depictions by other artists) looked the way they did, Archetypes imprinted on my mind started me on a search.”

Way Mind Artist Certain Photographer Photograph Landscape Archetype Depiction

Book:Permutations on the picturesque

Source: Permutations on the picturesque

“Somehow I felt that if Fox Talbot had had more time and more drawing talent, he would have filled in the interval between his two drawings and made a complete panorama. Now, 163 years later, I was able to use his great invention to elaborate on his youthful dream of capturing and fixing the fleeting image. In doing so, I may also have added another little bit to the soul of this extraordinary place.”

Source: Permutations on the picturesque

“I have been using the art of photography to research the ways in which the pictorial strategies of the Nineteenth Century color the way in which the American landscape is apprehended by today's viewers.”

Way Has Beens Art Today Century Color Photography Research Strategy Photographer Landscape Viewers Nineteenth Century Pictorial American Landscape

Author:John Pfahl

“Photography, of course, is the perfect medium for the investigation. It can reveal the truth of present day specifics and particularities, while at the same time, by conscious choice of lighting and pictorial structure, suggest the aesthetic legacy of the past.”

Past Choices Courses Perfect Photography Conscious Structure Photographer Mediums Legacy Aesthetic Investigation Lighting Present Day Pictorial Specifics

Author:John Pfahl

“It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of the Sublime and the Picturesque in my work. After all, serious photographers have spent most of this century trying to expunge such extravagances from their art. The tradition lives on, mostly in calendars and picture postcards. I was challenged to rework and revitalize that which had been so roundly denigrated.”

Trying Art Century Serious Tradition Photographer Code Sublime Calendars Extravagance Postcards Picturesque Trepidation Rework

Author:John Pfahl

“While making my picture window photographs, I came to think that every room was like a gigantic camera forever pointed at the same view.”

Thinking Rooms Views Forever Window Cameras Photographer Photograph

Author:John Pfahl

“Strangers with puzzled looks were amazingly cooperative in letting me into their rooms with my photographic gear. They let me take down the curtains, wash the windows, and rearrange the furniture. Often, too, they expressed their desire to share their view with others, as if it were a non-depletable treasure. I liked the idea that my photographic vantage points were not solely determined by myself. They were predetermined by others, sometimes years earlier, and patiently waited for me to discover them.”

Ifs Years Looks Ideas Sometimes Desire Rooms Views Share Window Let Me Photographer Stranger Determined Treasure Curtains Furniture Gears Cooperatives Puzzled Predetermined Vantage Point

Author:John Pfahl

“As Estelle Jussim wrote, it is almost impossible for a single photograph to state both the problem and the solution.”

States Problem Impossible Solutions Photographer Photograph

Author:John Pfahl

“I became wary of simple interpretations that assumed fixed and final meanings.”

Simple Finals Photographer Fixed Interpretation

Author:John Pfahl

“I want to make photographs whose very ambiguity provokes thought, rather than cuts it off prematurely. I want to make pictures that work on a more mysterious level, that approach the truth by a more circuitous route.”

Want Levels Cutting Approach Photographer Photograph Mysterious Provoking Routes Ambiguity

Author:John Pfahl