The camera is for us a tool, not a pretty mechanical toy ... people think far too much about techniques and not enough about seeing.
Henri Cartier-BressonRead
A photographer must always work with the greatest respect for his subject and in terms of his own point of view.
Interpretation
A photographer should honor their subject while also staying true to their own perspective.
This quote emphasizes the dual responsibility of a photographer to not only capture the essence and integrity of their subject but also to express their unique viewpoint. It suggests that the relationship between the subject and the photographer is deeply respectful and personal, highlighting the balance between objective representation and subjective interpretation in photography.
In practice
Using this quote during a photography exhibition to highlight the ethical responsibilities of photographers.
The camera is for us a tool, not a pretty mechanical toy ... people think far too much about techniques and not enough about seeing.
The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt.
Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important.
Photographier: c'est mettre sur la meme ligne de mire la tete, l'oeil et le coeur.
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.
Pictures, regardless of how they are created and recreated, are intended to be looked at. This brings to the forefront not the technology of imaging, which of course is important, but rather what we might call the eyenology (seeing).
Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.
All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence. For forty-five years I struggled to resolve this dilemma by writing plays and novels. The more I wrote, the more I realized mere words were not enough. So I found another form of expression.
In the belly of the furnace of creativity is a sexual fire; the flames twine about each other in fear and delight. The same sort of coiling, at a cooler, slower pace, is what the life of this planet looks like. The enormous spirals of typhoons, the twists and turns of mountain ranges and gorges, the waves and the deep ocean currents - a dragonlike writhing.
Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.
The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.
I was scared to do anything in the studio because it felt so claustrophobic. I wanted to be somewhere where things could happen and the subject wasn't just looking back at you.
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