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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of creating something original rather than just observing the world passively.
Minor White suggests that mere existence and observation, akin to water flowing over rocks, is insufficient for a meaningful life. Instead, he advocates for the idea that one's contribution to the world should be unique and significant, something that leaves a lasting impact and would not exist without the individual's creative input.
Themes
CreativityArtOriginalityImpactExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about pursuing passions.
More from Minor White
All quotes βWhile 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.
Minor WhiteRead
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
Similar quotes
When I shoot, I try to feel the body and the face and the weight of the actor, because the character until that moment is only in the pages of the script. And very often, I pull from the life of my actors. I'm always curious about what these characters and these actors are hiding about their lives.
Bernardo BertolucciRead
The most important thing is that you honor that musical integrity, whether you make music that sounds like ABBA or you make music that sounds like Void.
Dave GrohlRead
My method of getting a play across the footlights is like a revolver shooting: every line has a bullet in it and comes with an explosion.
George Bernard ShawRead
For me, writing [was] a question of survival...I could not trust anyone, even my family. The atmosphere was so poisoned. People even in your own family could turn you in.
Gao XingjianRead
Each time I make a movie, it's a little bit like taking another course in something because there's an argument between these people that I don't necessarily have an answer to.
Sydney PollackRead
Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.
Tom StoppardRead