If each photograph steals a bit of the soul, isn't it possible that I give up pieces of mine every time I take a picture?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the emotional and spiritual connection a photographer has with their subjects, suggesting that taking photographs can involve a personal sacrifice.
In this quote, Richard Avedon explores the profound relationship between the artist and their art, proposing that each photograph captured may extract a part of the photographer's essence or emotional state. Avedon suggests that through the act of photography, a photographer not only captures a moment but also invests their own soul and feelings into the image, raising questions about the nature of art and personal identity.
In practice
In a discussion about the emotional impact of photography during a photography exhibition.
There's always been a separation between fashion and what I call my 'deeper' work. Fashion is where I make my living. I'm not knocking it. It's a pleasure to make a living that way. It's pleasure and then there's the deeper pleasure of doing my portraits. It's not important what I consider myself to be, but I consider myself to be a portrait photographer.
I am, and forever will be, devastated by the gift of Audrey Hepburn before my camera. I cannot lift her to greater heights. She is already there. I can only record. I cannot interpret her. There is no going further than who she is. She has achieved in herself her ultimate portrait.
I never wanted to be called an artist. I wanted to be called a photographer.
Photography has always reminded me of the second child.. trying to prove itself. The fact that it wasn't really considered an art.. that it was considered a craft.. has trapped almost every serious photographer.
My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.
When you pose for a photograph, it's behind a smile that isn't yours. You are angry and hungry and alive. What I value in you is that intensity. I want to make portraits as intense as people.
The world of a comic strip ought to be a special place with its own logic and life... I don't want the issue of Hobbes's reality settled by a doll manufacturer.
I think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time.
Photography begins not in the camera but in the _x000D_ mind and the eye. The real work is one of noticing and appreciating, seeing things clearly and differently, and _x000D_ sharing that vision with others. I have developed my _x000D_ vision and my photographic craft in order to bring _x000D_ the beauty of nature to light in a fresh way that _x000D_ can inspire and nourish people.
People still love a good story, and I don't think that will change.
While the documentary community is way ahead of Hollywood, it is still nowhere near where it needs to be. Filmmakers of color rarely get hired by the powerful production companies, and they are not getting supported enough by broadcasters and funders to tell their own stories.
Poems are rough notations for the music we are.
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