“If I didn't have a conviction that a serious painter can portray Nature more profoundly than the best colour photography, I'd probably give it all up or go abstract or take up photography.” IfsGivingSeriousPhotographyConvictionPainterAbstractColour Author:E. J. Hughes
“The oceans are in trouble. There are some serious problems out there that I believe are not clear to many people. My hope is to continually find new ways of creating images and stories that both celebrate the sea yet also highlight environmental problems. Photography can be a powerful instrument for change.” PeopleWayBelieveStoriesProblemI BelievePowerfulClearTroubleSeaSeriousOceanCreatingPhotographyInstrumentsEnvironmentalCelebrateNew WaysHighlightsEnvironmental Problems Author:Brian Skerry
“To chart a course, one must have a direction. In reality, the eye is no better than the philosophy behind it. The photographer creates, evolves a better, more selective, more acute eye by looking ever more sharply at what is going on in the world. Like every other means of expression, photography, if it is to be utterly honest and direct, should be related to the life of the times-the pulse of today. The photograph may be presented as finely and artistically as you will, but to merit serious consideration, must be directly connected with the world we live in.” IfsWorldShouldMayMeanPhilosophyRealityEyeTodayCoursesBehindsHonestSeriousExpressionPhotographyDirectPhotographerPhotographConnectedEvolveMeritRelatedConsiderationPulseSelective Author:Berenice Abbott
“I didn't want to be criticized for taking low-quality photographs, so I tried to reach the best, highest quality of photography and then to combine this with a conceptual art practice. But thinking back, that was the wrong decision [laughs]. Developing a low-quality aesthetic is a sign of serious fine art-I still see this.” ThinkingWantArtStillsDecisionQualityPracticeLaughingSeriousFinePhotographyHighestLowsPhotographerPhotographDevelopingAestheticFine ArtsWrong DecisionConceptual Art Author:Hiroshi Sugimoto
“What most artists using photography feel that they need to do is to show that they are serious, that they are not taking snapshots. To point a camera at something does not qualify you as an artist because everybody has done that.” NeedsFeelsDoeDoneShowsArtistSeriousPhotographyCamerasSnapshots Author:Wolfgang Tillmans
“I often think we do not take this business of photography in a sufficiently serious spirit. Issuing a photograph is like marriage: you can only undo the mischief with infinite woe.” ThinkingSpiritSeriousPhotographyInfinitePhotographWoeMischief Book:Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) and Two Other Reminiscences Source: Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) and Two Other Reminiscences
“In the last workshop I taught, a woman flew in from Thailand. She's a medical doctor in Bangkok. I asked her in her one-on-one session where she wanted photography to be in her life.Did she want a second career? Was it about earning money? Or was it art? And she said "None of those. I want photography to be serious in my life." It would be like someone wanting music, like piano playing, to be a richer, deeper, and maybe even harder experience.” WantArtSaidWould BeWantedLastsCareersTaughtSeriousPhotographyDoctorsHarderDeeperMedicalPianoEarningSessionFlewWorkshopsOne On OneThailandEarning MoneyPiano PlayingBangkokMedical Doctor Author:Sam Abell
“Press information is serious information, but press information is also manipulated by people who want you to think that this and that happened. So it's the old thing that you still cannot trust photography at all or you have to know who is distributing the photograph. In terms of cell phone photography, I think nobody cares about a photograph anymore because they're taking so many pictures just for fun.” PeopleThinkingCareFunTermSeriousPhotographyPhotographCell PhoneNobody Cares Author:Thomas Ruff
“I see no difference between my pictures that people consider amusing and the rest. To me, it's all serious work - they're just a reaction to what I see. I don't leave this apartment in the morning and say to myself 'Today I'm going to be funny and tomorrow I'm going to be sad.'” PeopleTodayDifferencesMorningSeriousTomorrowPhotographyPhotographerReactionsApartmentAmusingSerious Work Author:Elliott Erwitt
“Photography has always reminded me of the second child.. trying to prove itself. The fact that it wasn't really considered an art.. that it was considered a craft.. has trapped almost every serious photographer.” TryingChildrenArtFactsSeriousProvePhotographyPhotographerCraftsTrappedProve It Author:Richard Avedon