QuoteProject
There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. I photograph to see what something will look like photographed.
Garry Winogrand
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the clarity that comes from careful observation and representation of reality through photography.

Garry Winogrand's quote reflects on the relationship between reality and its depiction through photography. He suggests that when a fact is clearly described, it becomes a mystery in its own right, inviting deeper exploration. Photography serves as a medium for understanding and visualizing the world, revealing insights about the subject that might not be apparent until viewed through the lens.

Themes

PhotographyRealityObservationArtRepresentation

In practice

Example use cases

A photographer's manifesto on the importance of understanding light and composition.

More from Garry Winogrand

The photo is a thing in itself. And that's what still photography is all about.
Garry WinograndRead
The photograph should be more interesting or more beautiful than what was photographed
Garry WinograndRead
Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.
Garry WinograndRead
When I’m photographing I see life.
Garry WinograndRead
Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed.
Garry WinograndRead
I like to think of photographing as a two-way act of respect. Respect for the medium, by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for the subject, by describing it as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both.
Garry WinograndRead

Similar quotes

Perfume is a form of writing, an ink, a choice made in the first person, the dot on the i, a weapon, a courteous gesture, part of the instant, a consequence.
Serge LutensRead
For the source of the short story is usually lyrical. And all writers speak from, and speak to, emotions eternally the same in all of us: love, pity, terror do not show favorites or leave any of us out.
Eudora WeltyRead
Black is the Color and none is the number
Bob DylanRead
There is no need to create. Genius comes only to those who know how to use their eyes and their intelligence.
Auguste RodinRead
It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character.
Camille PissarroRead
What distinguishes modern art from the art of other ages is criticism.
Octavio PazRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.