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 way I write my songs is that I have to believe what Iβm writing about, and thatβs why they always end up being so personal - because the kind of artists I like, they convince me, they totally win me over straight away in that thing. Like, βOh my God, this song is totally about me.β
Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.
How do you project a character if you don't have a sense of where she is from? I've always just gotten on a plane to go to the area to get a sense of what it is like, to smell it, feel the earth, hear people talk, go to the marketplaces.
The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
But there's no way round it-commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We're not supposed to be embraced in that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it's hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.
Creating is living doubly. The groping, anxious quest of a Proust, his meticulous collecting of flowers, of wallpapers, and of anxieties, signifies nothing else.
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