Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of me.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the idea that an artist often reveals their own identity through their work.
Richard Avedon's quote suggests that his photographs, while capturing external subjects, ultimately reveal aspects of himself and his perspective. It implies that art is a form of self-expression, where the artist's emotions, thoughts, and identity are inextricably linked to the creative process. Each picture becomes not just a representation of its subject, but also a reflection of the artist's inner world.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the role of the artist in conveying their personal experiences through art.
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.
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.
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.
They want me to write differently. Certainly I could, but I must not. God has chosen me from thousands and given me, of all people, this talent. It is to Him that I must give account. How then would I stand there before Almighty God, if I followed the others and not Him?
..I wanted to create music that was so different that my mother could tell me from anyone else
Art is a habit-forming drug. Art has absolutely no existence as veracity, as truth. People always speak of it with this great, religious reverence, but why should it be so revered?
When a man understands the art of seeing, he can trace the spirit of an age and the features of a king even in the knocker on a door.
You know how writers are... they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves.
If you want something from an audience, you give blood to their fantasies. It's the ultimate hustle.
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