I want to photograph the considerable ceremonies of our present. I want to gather them, like somebody's grandmother putting up preserves, because they will have been so beautiful.
Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed, and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Diane Arbus expresses her deep passion for photographing unconventional subjects, finding excitement and admiration in their uniqueness.
In this quote, Diane Arbus reflects on her early experiences in photography, highlighting her fascination with 'freaks' or marginalized individuals. She conveys how these subjects not only inspired her work but also provided a thrilling and enriching experience that has stayed with her throughout her career. Arbus's adoration for these unique characters showcases her ability to see beauty in unconventionality and challenges societal norms of aesthetics.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a photography exhibit showcasing unconventional portraits, one might reference this quote by Diane Arbus to highlight the beauty of diversity.
More from Diane Arbus
All quotes →I tend to think of the act of photographing, generally speaking, as an adventure. My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.
... I must begin at whatever pace is possible, to work on the book of my own that i vaguely keep assuming lies at the end of the rainbow. It is after all my rainbow and if I don't do it no one else will...Survival is the secret so you really can't afford to doubt yourself for long because you are all you've got. The only thing to do is to go the limit with it. Exceed.
I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.
If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life. I mean people are going to say, You're crazy. Plus they're going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. A lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that's a reasonable kind of attention to be paid.
It's always seemed to me that photography tends to deal with facts whereas film tends to deal with fiction.
Similar quotes
Stories always have held conflicts and contrasts, highs and lows, life and death situations. And there can be much suffering in stories, but now we say the artist doesn’t have to suffer to show suffering. You just have to understand the human condition, understand the suffering.
Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.
As long as that spark of passion is missing there is no human significance in the performance.
Whenever I get an idea for a song, even before jotting down the notes, I can hear it in the orchestra, I can smell it in the scenery, I can see the kind of actor who will sing it, and I am aware of an audience listening to it.
incurable lover of the grotesque
Color is vibration like music; everything is vibration.