“The photographs are not illustrative. They, and the text, are coequal, mutually independent, and fully collaborative. By their fewness, and by the importance of the reader’s eye, this will be misunderstood by most of that minority which does not wholly ignore it. In the interests, however, of the history and future of photography, that risk seems irrelevant, and this flat statement necessary.” DoeSeemsEyeInterestRiskReaderPhotographyImportanceIndependentPhotographerPhotographStatementsMinoritiesFlatsIrrelevantMisunderstood Author:Walker Evans
“The difficulty with color is to go beyond the fact that it's color ? to have it be not just a colorful picture but really be a picture about something. It's difficult. So often color gets caught up in color, and it becomes merly decorative. Some photographers use it brilliantly to make visual statements combining color and content; otherwise it is empty.” FactsUseDifficultColorPhotographyEmptyDifficultyPhotographerCaughtStatementsVisualsCaught UpColorfulCombining Author:Mary Ellen Mark
“Documentary photography is becoming more illustrative as people become more familiar with photography’s limitations and vulnerabilities. Reality has always been interpreted through layers of manipulation, abstraction, and intervention. But now, it is very much on the surface. I like this honesty about its dishonesty. Every photograph has many truths and none. Photographs are ambiguous, no matter how seemingly scientific they appear to be. They are always subject to an uncontrollable context. This is a tired statement, but worth repeating.” PeopleMatterRealitySubjectsHonestyBecomingPhotographyTiredPhotographSurfaceStatementsFamiliarLimitationVulnerabilityManipulationLayersDocumentariesAbstractionInterventionDishonestyBecoming MoreAmbiguousUncontrollableDocumentary Photography Author:Taryn Simon
“Photography is a powerful medium of persuasion and propaganda. It has that ring of truth when all the time, in artful hands, it can make any statement the manipulator chooses.” HandsPowerfulPhotographyRingsStatementsMediumsPropagandaPersuasionManipulator Book:Basic Photography Source: Basic Photography
“There is no such thing as a good paparazzo. A good paparazzo, that's a paparazzo who has had his camera broken. In fact, they are bandits, thieves of photography. (Statement after photographs were published showing Jackie Onassis sunbathing nude.)” FactsBrokenPhotographyCamerasPhotographStatementsThievesJackieBanditsSunbathingOnassis Author:Federico Fellini
“I am interested in marginality, in immaturity, in naïveté, in illusion, in fictions, in transitions, in the fact that at a certain moment in life there is no limit. I would like my photography to pose a question rather than make a precise statement.” MomentsFactsCertainFictionLimitsPhotographyIllusionStatementsTransitionPreciseImmaturityVets Author:Lise Sarfati
“If you look at most photography, especially the pictures that grab you, they are not objective at all. Sometimes gut wrenching and sometimes lovely, but the moment someone decides to release the shutter, it is an editorial statement.” IfsLooksSometimesMomentsPhotographyLovelyStatementsObjectivesReleaseGutsEditorialsShutters Author:John Filo
“One very important difference between color and monochromatic photography is this: in black and white you suggest; in color you state. Much can be implied by suggestion, but statement demands certainty... absolute certainty.” ImportantStatesBlackDifferencesWhiteColorDemandPhotographyAbsolutesPhotographerPhotographStatementsCertaintyBlack And WhiteSuggestionsImpliedAbsolute CertaintyColor PhotographyMonochromatic Author:Paul Outerbridge
“"Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: "Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a print - my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey - from the subject before me?""” ThinkingWorldWantFeelsLooksDoeDreamEyeMovingAsksMy OwnSubjectsPhotographyConvictionReactionsStatementsPrintPersonal Statement Author:Ansel Adams
“Let us first say what photography is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term-selectivity.” ShouldFirstsTermSimpleQualityPaintingExercisePhotographyPhotographerPhotographTechniqueSignificantStatementsPrintSheerDocumentsSymphonyPretty Picture Author:Berenice Abbott
“I know some photographs that are extraodrinary in their power and conviction, but it is difficult in photography to overcome the superficial power or subject; the concept and statement must be quite convincing in themselves to win over a dramatic and compelling subject situation.” KnowsWinningDifficultSituationSubjectsPhotographyConceptsOvercomingPhotographConvictionStatementsDramaticCompellingSuperficialConvincing Book:Ansel Adams: An Autobiography Source: Ansel Adams: An Autobiography