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.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the importance of respecting one's tools and the lessons learned through experiences.
Annie Leibovitz emphasizes the dual lessons learned from her experience of climbing Mt. Fuji with her first camera: the determination required to undertake such a challenge, and the moderation needed in handling one's tools. This experience not only highlights her growth as a photographer but also underscores the necessity of understanding and respecting the equipment that enables artistic expression.
In practice
During a photography workshop, I shared this quote to inspire students to value their equipment.
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.
A lot can be told from what happens in between the main moments.
My hope is that we continue to nurture the places that we love, but that we also look outside our immediate worlds.
If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.
The world has never before had as much drama as today. Radio, films, television and video inundate us with drama. But while these forms can engage or even enrage the audience, in none of them can the viewer’s response alter the artistic event itselfThat is why theatre is signing its own death warrant when it tries to play too safe. On the other hand, that is also the reason why, although its future often seems bleak, theatre will continue to live and to provoke.
What I am trying to do when I use symbols is to awaken in your unconscious some reaction. I am very conscious of what I am using because symbols can be very dangerous. When we use normal language we can defend ourselves because our society is a linguistic society, a semantic society. But when you start to speak, not with words, but only with images, the people cannot defend themselves.
What is art? It is not just nature, it is nurtured nature. It is intelligence applied to what physical ability you have.
Originality is... a by-product of sincerity.
I got over the loss of his desk and chair, but never the desire to produce a string of words more precious than the emeralds of Cortés.
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