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.
Annie LeibovitzRead
Those who want to be serious photographers, you're really going to have to edit your work. You're going to have to understand what you're doing. You're going to have to not just shoot, shoot, shoot. To stop and look at your work is the most important thing you can do.
Interpretation
Serious photography requires careful editing and reflection on one's work.
Annie Leibovitz emphasizes the importance of not just taking countless photographs, but also critically evaluating and editing them. This reflective process is crucial for growth and improvement in the craft of photography, as it allows the photographer to develop a deeper understanding of their work and artistic vision.
In practice
In a photography workshop, to inspire students to take their art seriously.
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.
I personally made a decision many years ago that I wanted to crawl into portraiture because it had a lot of latitude.
In a portrait, you have room to have a point of view. The image may not be literally what's going on, but it's representative.
The first thing I did with my very first camera was climb Mt. Fuji. Climbing Mt. Fuji is a lesson in determination and moderation. It would be fair to ask if I took the moderation part to heart. But it certainly was a lesson in respecting your camera. If I was going to live with this thing, I was going to have to think about what that meant. There were not going to be any pictures without it.
A lot can be told from what happens in between the main moments.
My hope is that we continue to nurture the places that we love, but that we also look outside our immediate worlds.
If you're a fiction writer, though, I can tell you how to let people talk through you. Listen. Just be quiet, and listen. Let the character talk. Don't censor, don't control. Listen, and write.
Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?
The gamble of literature is that I make the best work I can; the most truthful, the most representative of how I see things. I try and do that and then I put it out there and say to you, "What do you think?" I hope that you think well of it, obviously.
I adore wearing gems, but not because they are mine. You can't possess radiance, you can only admire it.
Every great film should seem new every time you see it.
I am married to the theater, and the films are only my mistress.
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