I canβt stand these damn shows on museum walls with neat little frames, where you look at the images as if they were pieces of art. I want them to be pieces of life!
W. Eugene SmithRead
Most photographers seem to operate with a pane of glass between themselves and their subjects. They just can't get inside and know the subject.
Interpretation
Photographers often create a barrier between themselves and their subjects, hindering genuine connection.
W. Eugene Smith's quote highlights the challenge photographers face in truly understanding and connecting with their subjects. It suggests that many photographers may rely too heavily on technical aspects and remain emotionally distant, which prevents them from capturing the essence of who their subjects really are.
In practice
In a presentation about the art of photography, this quote can emphasize the importance of emotional connection.
I canβt stand these damn shows on museum walls with neat little frames, where you look at the images as if they were pieces of art. I want them to be pieces of life!
I've never made any picture, good or bad, without paying for it in emotional turmoil.
Up to and including the moment of exposure, the photographer is working in an undeniably subjective way. By his choice of technical approach, by the selection of the subject matterand by his decision as to the exact cinematic instant of exposure, he is blending the variables of interpretation into an emotional whole.
I try to take what voice I have and I give it to those who donβt have one at all.
The photographer must bear the responsibility for his work and its effect β¦[for] photographic journalism, because of its tremendous audience reached by publications using it, has more influence on public thinking than any other branch of photography.
Many claim I am a photographer of tragedy. In the greater sense I am not, for though I often photograph where the tragic emotion is present, the result is almost invariably affirmative.
Music, such music, is a sufficient gift. Why ask for happiness; why hope not to grieve? It is enough, it is to be blessed enough, to live from day to day and to hear such music-not too much, or the soul could not sustain it-from time to time.
When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.
A playwright must be his own audience. A novelist may lose his readers for a few pages; a playwright never dares lose his audience for a minute.
When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.
You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you. Or rather you can if you will be ruthless enough about it. But the best writing is certainly when you are in love.
I don't know what the hell I'm doing up there half the time. These performers that go on about their technique and craft - oh, puleeze! How boring! I don't know what technique means. But I do know what experience is. I know in my gut when I've done a scene right.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.