Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of originality in photography, suggesting it should not simply mimic other art forms.
Berenice Abbott's quote reflects the idea that photography, as an art form, must develop its own unique identity rather than relying on the styles or techniques of other mediums such as painting or film. It advocates for authenticity and creative independence, encouraging photographers to explore their own vision and voice in their work.
In practice
During a photography exhibition, this quote can be used to inspire budding photographers to find their own style.
To chart a course, one must have a direction. In reality, the eye is no better than the philosophy behind it. The photographer creates, evolves a better, a more selective, more acute seeing eye by looking ever more sharply at what is going on in the world.
Actually, documentary pictures include every subject in the world - good, bad, indifferent. I have yet to see a fine photograph which is not a good document.
Does not the very word 'creative' mean to build, to initiate, to give out, to act - rather than to be acted upon, to be subjective? Living photography is positive in its approach, it sings a song of life - not death.
The camera is no more an instrument of preservation, the image is.
Photography helps people to see.
Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere so exemplified as in real life itself.
Writers have to have a knack for listening. I need to be able to hear what is being said to me by the voices I create.
Pleasure to me is wonderβthe unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability.
I never promised the universe that I would write brilliantly; I only promised the universe that I would write.
Ever since I was a child I've always been very attracted to melodies. Whether I hear Jeff Beck, a choir, an ocean or the wind, there's always a melody in there.
The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does. By poetry I mean the imagining of what has been lost and what can be found - the imagining of who we are and the slow realization of it.
Some of the smallest things on a smaller film, to me, are greater achievements than on a big film when you have the resources and the time and everything else.
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