There's an idea that it's hard to be a woman artist. People assume that women have fewer opportunities, less power. But it's not any harder to be a woman artist than to be a male artist. We all take what we are given and use the parts of ourselves that feed the work. We make our way. Photographers, men and women, are particularly lucky. Photography lets you find yourself. It is a passport to people and places and to possibilities.
Interpretation
The struggles of being a woman artist are often overstated; all artists face similar challenges, and photography empowers self-discovery.
Annie Leibovitz emphasizes that the notion of being a woman artist as more difficult than being a male artist is a misconception. She suggests that all artists face their unique challenges, but the medium of photography offers a profound opportunity for individuals of any gender to explore themselves, connect with others, and uncover a world of possibilities.
In practice
In a speech at an art gallery, I might quote this to discuss the importance of gender inclusivity in the arts.
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.
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.
From 1968 on, I was pretty much the black, gay SF writer.
A spider lives inside my head Who weaves a strange and wondrous web Of silken threads and silver strings To catch all sorts of flying things, Like crumbs of thoughts and bits of smiles And specks of dried-up tears, And dust of dreams that catch and cling For years and years and years...
To write a book is for all the world like humming a song—be but in tune with yourself, madam, 'tis no matter how high or how low you take it.
You I am sure will forgive me for sincerely remarking that you might curb your magnanimity and be more of an artist, and 'load every rift' of your subject with ore.
Part of the joy of looking at art is getting in sync in some ways with the decision-making process that the artist used and the record that's embedded in the work.
The whole world of publishing is moving to electronic, but when you put a poem on a screen and you increase the type size, the shape of a poem changes.
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