Photography is the truth if it’s being handled by a truthful person.
Interpretation
Photography's authenticity depends on the integrity of the photographer.
This quote emphasizes the notion that photography can capture reality, but its truthfulness is contingent upon the ethical perspective and honesty of the person taking the photograph. A truthful photographer can convey genuine and unaltered moments through their work, contributing to a deeper understanding of the subjects depicted.
In practice
This quote can be used in a photography workshop to inspire honesty in the art.
I've spent most of my life embracing violence in wars and revolutions. Even a famine is a form of violence. Because I photograph people in peril, people in pain, people being executed in front of me, I find it very difficult to get my head around the art narrative of photography.
I started out on photography accidentally. A policeman came to a stop at the end of my street, and a guy knifed him at the end of my street. That's how I became a photographer. I photographed the gangs that I went to school with.
In my photography, I always lean towards the underprivileged because that's where I came from. When I went to the wars, I attempted to go and stand by those who were being trodden on. By that, I mean people like the Palestinians. When I go to India, I see really the poorest people, and I tend to be drawn to them.
I am sometimes accused by my peers of printing my pictures too dark. All I can say is that it goes with the mood of melancholy that is induced by witnessing at close quarters such intractable situations of conflict and joylessness.
When I take a black-and-white portrait, it's not particularly meant to please you. It's meant to talk to you; it's meant to shame you. It's meant to scream out at you, and it has a message.
I'm from England, and like every other great empire who stole bits of the world, there is a price to pay. And I was born in 1935. So, since I've been conscious of the world, I've either been in, or been on the periphery of, a war zone.
To disappear your complete self into a character is quite difficult. I've tried it 85 times, and I've succeeded two or three times.
Hip-hop is a perfect mix between poetry and boxing.
I don't think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.
I wanted to deal with light directly rather than with paint.
It's tricky when you're doing a recording, because the only weapon you have is your voice and the delivery of that voice. You don't have a gesture or a facial expression, there are no costumes or set pieces. Everything needs to be present in the voice.
The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and to count for nothing all the rest.
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