Camera lies all the time. It’s all it does is lie, because when you choose this moment instead of this moment, when you… the moment you’ve made a choice, you’re lying about something larger. Lying is an ugly word. I don’t mean lying. But any artist picks and chooses what they want to paint or write about or say. Photographers are the same.
Interpretation
Art involves selective representation, and choices made by artists shape the reality they present.
Richard Avedon's quote emphasizes the inherent subjectivity in art and photography. When an artist or photographer chooses one moment over another, they are creating a narrative or perspective that may not reflect the entirety of reality. This selection process, while it might feel dishonest, is a fundamental aspect of artistic expression, as it allows creators to convey their interpretations and emotional truths rather than a literal depiction of life.
In practice
This quote can inspire photographers during a workshop about the creative process.
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.
Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
Poetry is a vocation. It is not a career but a calling.
Played percussively, the piano is a bore. If I go to a concert and someone plays like that I have two choices: go home or go to sleep. The goal is to make the piano sing, sing, sing.
It's really, always, the story and the characters that come first, and the other things are kind of dealt with in time or, in fact, driven by the story.
You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.
I compose music for films, and by the grace of God, I've got a few awards. That's it.
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