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Now very often events are set up for photographers... The weddings are orchestrated about the photographers taking the picture, because if it hasn't been photographed it doesn't really exist.
Elliott Erwitt
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Photography has become a crucial part of documenting significant life events, influencing how we perceive their importance.

Elliott Erwitt's quote highlights the evolving nature of events, specifically weddings, where the presence of a photographer transforms the experience. It suggests that the act of capturing a moment on camera has become so important that an event feels as though it lacks significance if it is not documented, emphasizing the pivotal role of photography in creating lasting memories and shaping our perceptions of reality.

Themes

PhotographyEventsDocumentationWeddingsMemory

In practice

Example use cases

A wedding planner could use this quote to stress the importance of hiring a professional photographer.

More from Elliott Erwitt

The advice I would give to any photographer - young, old or in-between - is to explore anything visual because this is, after all, how you express your artistry. Look at paintings, movies, drawings, sculptures - look at anything visual and try to integrate that into your visual sense. After that, go out and take pictures and keep on taking pictures!
Elliott ErwittRead
Making pictures is a very simple act. There is no great secret in photography...schools are a bunch of crap. You just need practice and application of what you've learned. My absolute conviction is that if you are working reasonably well the only important thing is to keep shooting...it doesn't matter whether you are making money or not. Keep working, because as you go through the process of working things begin to happen.
Elliott ErwittRead
Photography is an art of observation - it's about creating something extraordinary out of the ordinary. You choose a frame and then wait until the right time for something magical to come along and fill it.
Elliott ErwittRead
I'm almost violent about that stuff - electronic manipulation of pictures. I think it's an abomination. I reject it all. I mean, it's OK for selling corn flakes or automobiles or for taking pimples out of Elizabeth Taylor's face, but it undermines the thing that photography is about, which is about observation and not about manipulation of images.
Elliott ErwittRead
There's no great mystique to photography. A lot of photographers like to put their hands up to their forehead and tell you how they've suffered and so forth. Well, I just rent a car and drive to the place and take the pictures.
Elliott ErwittRead
The main thing is to study pictures and stop listening to the pontifictaions of photographers. Photographers aren't oracles of wisdom. If they're good photographers, then take a good look at their pictures - what else do you need?
Elliott ErwittRead

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