“I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.” HumansArtFormEmotionCreativityColorPhotographyTragedyEcstasyNot InterestedDoomHuman Emotions Author:Mark Rothko
“Photography is essentially an act of recognition by street photographers, not an act of invention. Photographers might respond to an old man’s face, or an Arbus freak, or the way light hits a building—and then they move on. Whereas in all the other art forms, take William Blake, everything that came to that paper never existed before. It’s the idea of alchemy, of making something from nothing.” MenWayArtIdeasLightMightFacesMovingFormStreetsBuildingPaperPhotographyPhotographerInventionRecognitionOld ManFreakAlchemyBlake Author:Duane Michals
“It's not that photography recaptures the world you have been in; more that it creates a new one: photographs are like Post-It Notes reminding us of the deep architectonic forms of space and thought.” WorldHas BeensFormSpacePhotographyNotesPhotographPostsRemindingPost It Notes Book:Isabelle the Navigator Source: Isabelle the Navigator
“The use of the term art medium is, to say the least, misleading, for it is the artist that creates a work of art not the medium. It is the artist in photography that gives form to content by a distillation of ideas, thought, experience, insight and understanding.” GivingArtIdeasUseFormArtistUnderstandingTermPhotographyInsightMediumsWorks Of ArtMisleadArt PhotographyDistillation Author:Edward Steichen
“There are many forms of photography. I consider myself simply a recorder of that which I find of interest around me. I personally have no desire to create or stage direct ideas.” IdeasFormDesireInterestStagePhotographyDirectPhotographerRecorders Author:David Hurn
“I start with no preconceived idea - discovery excites me to focus - then rediscovery through the lens - final form of presentation seen on ground glass, the finished print previsioned completely in every detail of texture, movement, proportion, before exposure - the shutter's release automatically and finally fixes my conception, allowing no after manipulation - the ultimate end, the print, is but a duplication of all that I saw and felt through my camera.” IdeasEndsFormFeltSawsFocusMovementPhotographyDiscoveryUltimateCamerasFinalsPhotographerGlassesDetailsFinishedReleaseProportionManipulationPrintAllowingConceptionLensesExposurePresentationTextureShuttersPreconceived IdeasRediscoveryDuplication Book:Edward Weston on photography Source: Edward Weston on photography
“My quest, through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity. To indicate the ideal proportion, to reveal sculptural mass and the dominating spirit is my goal.” GivingLightFormSpiritGoalMagicPhotographyMassShadowIdealsPhotographerClarityProportionQuestsEmphasisSimplifyDominatingLight And Shadow Author:Ruth Bernhard
“To see color as form means looking at the image in a new way, trying to free oneself from absorption in subject matter.” WayTryingMeanMatterFormSubjectsColorPhotographyOneselfNew WaysSubject MatterAbsorption Author:Cole Weston
“More and more are turning to photography as a medium of expression as well as communication. The leavening of aesthetic approaches continues. While it is too soon to define the characteristic of the photographic style today, one common denominator, rooted in tradition, seems in the ascendancy. The direct use of the camera for what it can do best, and that is the revelation, interpretation, and discovery of the world of man and of nature. The greatest challenge to the photographer is to express the inner significance through the outward form.” MenWorldWellsUseSeemsTodayFormCan DoChallengesCommonStyleExpressionCommunicationApproachPhotographyDiscoveryTraditionDirectCamerasPhotographerMediumsCharacteristicsRevelationsSignificanceInterpretationAestheticRootedCommon DenominatorAscendancy Author:Beaumont Newhall
“Every photograph is a battle of form versus content.” FormBattlePhotographyPhotographerPhotographVersus Author:Garry Winogrand
“...throughout the history of art it has been art itself - in all its forms - that has inspired art...today's photographs are so geared to life that one can learn more from them than from life itself.” Has BeensArtTodayFormPhotographyInspiredPhotograph Author:Van Deren Coke
“Although photography generates works that can be called art-it requires subjectivity, it can lie, it gives aesthetic pleasure-photography is not, to begin with, an art form at all. Like language, it is a medium in which works of art (among other things) are made.” GivingArtMadeFormLyingLanguagePleasurePhotographyMediumsWorks Of ArtAestheticSubjectivity Book:On photography Source: On photography
“In previous ages the word 'art' was used to cover all forms of human skill. The Greeks believed that these skills were given by the gods to man for the purpose of improving the condition of life. In a real sense, photography has fulfilled the Greek ideal of art; it should not only improve the photographer, but also improve the world.” MenWorldShouldHumansArtRealAgeFormUsedPurposeGivenConditionsSkillsPhotographyIdealsPhotographerGreekFulfilledImproving Author:David Hurn