Questions #16, 17, 18

“I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know. It takes no great powers or magic to reproduce somebody's face in a photograph. The magic is in seeing people in new ways.” Duane Michals

I think this quotation is a correct statement, the majority of photographs taken are just reproductions of how a person looks. But I think successful photographs are the ones that make people look in a way that no one has seen them before.

“I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” Duane Michals

An interesting statement. I think as a photographer it is a great responsibility and challenge to be able make our imaginations part of reality for other to be able to observe.

“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” ~Ansel Adams

I can think of no greater challenge than to make landscape photographs. You can only photograph what is found. Other photographers have set such high standards. To make photographs in a new way that have not already been photographed is a big challenge. When we do not measure up, which I think is often, we will be disappointed.

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” Arnold Newman

I think that there are elements of reality in every photograph, however photographs really are the illusion of the reality that we construct.

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott

An interesting statement. Photography is very much about the moment. But everything moves to the past as soon as we reach it. The purpose of photography to me is being able to capture that moment that is now in the past and take it into the future.