Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference.
Robert FrankRead
I have been frequently accused of deliberately twisting subject matter to my point of view. Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the subjective nature of photography and criticism, highlighting that personal perspectives are essential in art.
Robert Frank conveys that being a photographer means engaging deeply with the subject matter and not remaining indifferent to it. He acknowledges that while opinions and interpretations can sometimes be seen as biased or twisted, they often come from a place of genuine affection or passion for the art, underscoring the importance of personal perspective in creative expression.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of photography, this quote can illustrate the importance of personal perspective.
Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference.
All the seven deadly sins are peccadilloes but without three of them, Pride, Lust, and Sloth, poetry might never have been born.
I wasn't a fashion editor. I was the one and only fashion editor.
Photography speaks a universal language that does not need translation, and with an immediacy that the written word lacks. It freezes a moment in time, leaving an indelible image.
Drama lies in extreme exaggeration of the feelings, an exaggeration that dislocates flat everyday reality.
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
That afternoon he told me that the difference between human beings and animals was that human beings were able to dream while awake. He said the purpose of books was to permit us to exercise that faculty. Art, he said, was a controlled madness… He said books weren't made of themes, which you could write essays about, but of images that inserted themselves into your brain and replaced what you were seeing with your eyes.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.