It's easy to photograph light reflecting from a surface, the truly hard part is capturing the light in the air.
Walker EvansRead
The meaning of quality in photography's best pictures lies written in the language of vision. That language is learned by chance, not system.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Quality in photography comes from an innate understanding of visual language, developed through experience rather than structured learning.
Walker Evans emphasizes that the essence of quality in great photographs is captured in a visual language that transcends formal education. This language is acquired through serendipity and personal experiences rather than through systematic study, suggesting that true artistic vision is often instinctual and unique to each individual photographer.
Themes
PhotographyQualityVisionArtisticLanguageExperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a photography workshop, one could share this quote to inspire participants to trust their instincts.
More from Walker Evans
All quotes βThatβs my idea of what a portrait ought to be, anonymous and documentary and a straightforward picture of mankind.
Walker EvansRead
It is the way to educate your eye and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop.
Walker EvansRead
Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.
Walker EvansRead
Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer is a joyous sensualist, for the simple reason that the eye traffics in feelings, not in thoughts.
Walker EvansRead
It is easy to imagine fantasy as physical and myth as real. We do it almost every moment. We do this as we dream, as we think, and as we cope with the world about us. But these worlds of fantasy that we form into the solid things around us are the source of our discontent. They inspire our search to find ourselves.
Walker EvansRead
Similar quotes
Comics deal with fundamental archetypes. We've been called the myth-makers of the modern age.
Chris ClaremontRead
But beauty must be broken daily to remain beautiful.
Virginia WoolfRead
'Tristan' is a very unique case, not just in Wagner's output, but in music in general. It remains contemporary no matter what else surrounds it. There is something self-renewing about it.
Daniel BarenboimRead
I wear myself out and struggle with the sun. And what a sun here! It would be necessary to paint here with gold and gemstones. It is wonderful.
Claude MonetRead
Sometimes when you're inside a story, it's almost better if you don't think too much about its wider cultural significance or if you don't think about how audiences might react to it. That takes you out of the reality of the situation you're committing to as you're telling the story.
Riz AhmedRead
One of the nice things about the Internet is you can do a comic that's just for Ph.D. students, or for truck drivers, and you get to reach all of them without having to satisfy the other 99%.
Randall MunroeRead