I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that photography is not just about capturing reality, but about expressing one's personal interpretations and creative visions of the world.
Man Ray's quote highlights the idea that art, and specifically photography, is an expression of the artist's perspective rather than a mere replication of nature. It suggests that a photograph is not simply a picture of what exists in the world, but rather a manifestation of the photographerβs internal vision, creativity, and emotional response to what they observe, which transforms the mundane into something uniquely personal and artistic.
In practice
For a photography exhibition, this quote can be used to describe the artist's perspective.
I like contradictions. We have never attained the infinite variety and contradictions that exist in nature. Tomorrow I shall contradict myself. That is the one way I have of asserting my liberty, the real liberty one does not find as a member of society.
I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.
l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.
Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.
Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.
Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.
I had a funny feeling as I saw the house disappear, as though I had written a poem and it was very good and I had lost it and would never remember it again.
How quiet the writing, how noisy the printing.
With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it's just not acting. It's lying.
I always feel that art in general and acting in particular should make the audience a little uncomfortable, to slap them and wake them up.
To win applause one must write stuff so simple that a coachman might sing it.
The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency - half tiger, half poet.
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