I've never liked the word 'celebrity.' I like to photograph people who are good at what they do.
Interpretation
Annie Leibovitz emphasizes the importance of talent over fame in her photography work.
In this quote, Annie Leibovitz expresses her discontent with the term 'celebrity,' suggesting that it often overshadows true skill and artistry. She prefers to focus on capturing individuals who excel at their craft, indicating her appreciation for genuine talent rather than the superficiality associated with fame.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech at an art gallery showcasing talented photographers.
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.
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.
A lot can be told from what happens in between the main moments.
And then he danced,-all foreigners excel the serious Angels in the eloquence of pantomime;-he danced, I say, right well, with emphasis, and a'so with good sense-a thing in footing indispensable: he danced without theatrical pretence, not like a ballet-master in the van of his drill'd nymphs, but like a gentleman.
Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.
You have to be careful about over-politicizing the utterances of people of colour because, oftentimes, there's poetry that seeks to go beyond that narrative.
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.
Of all man's works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that.
The goal of an artist is to create the definitive work that cannot be surpassed.
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