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.
Interpretation
Photography is often undervalued as an art form, leading photographers to seek validation for their craft.
In this quote, Richard Avedon reflects on the struggle of photography to be recognized as a true art form rather than merely a craft. He compares photography to a second child, emphasizing how it seeks validation and recognition in a world that has often marginalized its artistic value, thus affecting the perception and ambitions of serious photographers who feel constrained by this stigma.
In practice
This quote can be used in a photography workshop to emphasize the importance of seeking artistic validation.
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.
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.
I think all art is about control, the encounter between control and uncontrollable.
The really great writers are people like Emily Brontë who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.
Some people start with the lyrics first because they know what they want to talk about and they just write a whole bunch of lyrical ideas, but for me the music tells me what to talk about.
Perhaps Bach and Beethoven are strange bedfellows for Mickey Mouse, but it's all been a lot of fun.
Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home.
Music can be healing, and with my history and my knowledge of both sides of what looks like a gigantic divide in the world, I feel I can point a way forward to our common humanity again.
I've gradually realised that what I do best is universes. And I shouldn't be afraid of that.
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