Anything is an art if you do it at the level of an art.
Interpretation
Art is defined by the level of skill and intention behind an action.
This quote by Richard Avedon suggests that the essence of art lies not solely in traditional forms or mediums, but rather in the dedication and skill applied to any activity. When one approaches a task with the intent and care that characterizes artistic expression, that task transcends its ordinary nature and becomes art, highlighting the subjective and personal nature of creative endeavors.
In practice
In a motivational speech about creativity in the workplace.
There's always been a separation between fashion and what I call my 'deeper' work. Fashion is where I make my living. I'm not knocking it. It's a pleasure to make a living that way. It's pleasure and then there's the deeper pleasure of doing my portraits. It's not important what I consider myself to be, but I consider myself to be a portrait photographer.
I am, and forever will be, devastated by the gift of Audrey Hepburn before my camera. I cannot lift her to greater heights. She is already there. I can only record. I cannot interpret her. There is no going further than who she is. She has achieved in herself her ultimate portrait.
I never wanted to be called an artist. I wanted to be called a photographer.
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.
My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.
When you pose for a photograph, it's behind a smile that isn't yours. You are angry and hungry and alive. What I value in you is that intensity. I want to make portraits as intense as people.
I imposed black; it still going strong today, for black wipes out everything else around
Any time you get two people in a room who disagree about anything, the time of day, there is a scene to be written. That's what I look for.
The glory of a good tale is that it is limitless and fluid; a good tale belongs to each reader in its own particular way.
To shoot a film is to organize an entire universe.
Pleasure to me is wonderβthe unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability.
In each verse, a decision awaits us, and we can't choose to close our eyes and let instinct work on its own. Poetic instinct consists of an alert tension.
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