There's no particular class of photograph that I think is any better than any other class. I'm always and forever looking for the image that has spirit! I don't give a damn how it got made.
Minor WhiteRead
While we cannot describe its appearance (the equivalent), we can define its function. When a photograph functions as an Equivalent we can say that at that moment, and for that person the photograph acts as a symbol or plays the role of a metaphor for something that is beyond the subject photographed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the role of photographs as symbols that convey deeper meanings beyond their literal subjects.
Minor White suggests that a photograph's true value lies not in how it looks but in what it represents. When a photograph serves as an ‘Equivalent,’ it transcends its visual appearance to embody deeper concepts, emotions, or experiences for the viewer, thus acting as a metaphor that evokes feelings and thoughts beyond the image itself.
Themes
PhotographySymbolMetaphorMeaningArt
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a photography exhibition to articulate the depth of meaning behind each captured image.
More from Minor White
All quotes →The reason why we want to remember an image varies: because we simply 'love it,' or dislike it so intensely that it becomes compulsive, or because it has made us realize something about ourselves, or has brought about some slight change in us. Perhaps the reader can recall some image, after the seeing of which he has never been quite the same.
Minor WhiteRead
Some of the young photographers today enter photography where I leave off. My "grandchildren" astound me. What I worked for they seem to be born with. So I wonder where Their affirmations of Spirit will lead. My wish for them is that their unfolding proceeds to fullness of Spirit, however astonishing or anguished their lives.
Minor WhiteRead
One does not photograph something simply for 'what it is', but 'for what else it is.
Minor WhiteRead
One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are.
Minor WhiteRead
If all your life means to you is water running over rocks, then photograph it, but I want to create something that would not have existed without me.
Minor WhiteRead
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