it is not often I am stimulated to enthusiasm over a group of photographs . |
Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual. |
Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk. |
I have been photographing our toilet, that glossy enameled receptacle of extraordinary beauty. Here was every sensuous curve of the ''human figure divine'' but minus the imperfections. Never did the Greeks reach a more significant consummation to their culture, and it somehow reminded me, in the glory of its chaste convulsions and in its swelling, sweeping, forward movement of finely progressing contours, of the Victory of Samothrace. |
I have been photographing our toilet, that glossy enameled receptacle of extraordinary beauty. Here was every sensuous curve of the ''human figure divine'' but minus the imperfections. Never did the Greeks reach a more significant consummation to their culture, and it somehow reminded me, in the glory of its chaste convulsions and in its swelling, sweeping, forward movement of finely progressing contours, of the Victory of Samothrace. |
I see no reason for recording the obvious. |
I was extravagant in the matter of cameras Ð anything photographic Ð I had to have the best. But that was to further my work. In most things I have gone along with the plainest Ð or without. |
My own eyes are no more than scouts on a preliminary search, for the camera's eye may entirely change my idea. |
Now to consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk. Such rules and laws are deduced from the accomplished fact; they are the products of reflection... |
Photography suits the temper of this age -- of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately. |
Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it my be. |
There is nothing like a Bach fugue to remove me from a discordant moment... only Bach hold up fresh and strong after repeated playing. I can always return to Bach when the other records weary me. |