I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.
James NachtweyRead
I don't think tragic situations are necessarily devoid of beauty.
Interpretation
Tragic situations can hold an unexpected beauty that reveals deeper truths about life.
This quote suggests that even in the midst of tragedy, there exists a certain beauty that can arise, prompting us to reflect on the complexities of human experiences. It encourages us to look beyond the surface of sorrow and despair, recognizing that from even the darkest moments can emerge profound insights and delicate nuances that highlight the resilience of the human spirit.
In practice
In a speech about resilience after natural disasters.
I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.
I became a photographer in order to be a war photographer, and a photographer involved in what I thought were critical social issues. From the very beginning this was my goal.
I try to use whatever I know about photography to be of service to the people I'm photographing.
If you want to connect with people who are in distress and great grief and scared, you need to do it in a certain way. I move kind of slow. I talk kind of slow. I let them know that I respect them.
[Photography] puts a human face on issues which, from afar, can appear abstract or ideological or monumental in their global impact.
If Im feeling outraged, grief, disbelief, frustration, sympathy, that gets channeled through me and into my pictures and hopefully transmitted to the viewer.
The sciences are the 'how,' and the humanities are the 'why' - why are we here, why do we believe in the things we believe in. I don't think you can have the 'how' without the 'why.'
Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.
I believe we are put here to improve civilisation.
Christianity is not some ideal toward which we ought always to strive even though the ideal is out of reach. Christianity is not a series of slogans that sum up our beliefs.
People need to see that, far from being an obstacle, the world's diversity of languages, religions and traditions is a great treasure, affording us precious opportunities to recognize ourselves in others.
I'd quite like to be in Caligula's court - living in the back room somewhere and just being able to observe.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.