"Utter truth is essential, and that is what stirs me when I look through the camera." Margaret Bourke-White More Quotes by Margaret Bourke-White More Quotes From Margaret Bourke-White Life wanted faces that would express what we wanted to tell. Not just the unusual or striking face, but the face that would speak out the message from the printed page. I am always looking for some typical person or face that will tie the picture essay together in a human way. Margaret Bourke-White speaks-out ties photography To understand another human being you must gain some insight into the conditions which made him what he is. Margaret Bourke-White gains insight made Photography is a very subtle thing. You must let the camera take you by the hand, as it were, and lead you into your subject. Margaret Bourke-White cameras photography hands The camera is a remarkable instrument. Saturate yourself with your subject, and the camera will all but take you by the hand and point the way. Margaret Bourke-White photography hands way Nothing attracts me like a closed door. I cannot let my camera rest until I have pried it open. Margaret Bourke-White closed-doors cameras doors A burning purpose attracts others who are drawn along with it and help fulfill it. Margaret Bourke-White burning purpose helping If you banish fear, nothing terribly bad can happen to you. Margaret Bourke-White fear-not fear-nothing happens If you want to photograph a man spinning, give some thought to why he spins. Understanding for a photographer is as important as the equipment he uses. Margaret Bourke-White photography giving men Work is something you can count on, a trusted, lifelong friend who never deserts you. Margaret Bourke-White lifelong desert work I'm afraid my closely guarded solitude causes some hurt feelings now and then. But how to explain, without wounding someone, that you want to be wholly in the world you are writing about, that it would take two days to get the visitor's voice out of the house so that you could listen to your own characters again? Margaret Bourke-White photography hurt writing As photographers, we live through things so swiftly. All our experience and training is focused toward snatching off the highlights... That all significant perfect moment, so essential to capture, is often highly perishable. There may be little opportunity to probe deeper. Margaret Bourke-White photography perfect opportunity The sights I have just seen [at Buchenwald] are so unbelievable that I don't think I'll believe them myself until I've seen the photographs. Margaret Bourke-White sight believe thinking We are in a privileged and sometimes happy position. We see a great deal of the world. Our obligation is to pass it on to others. Margaret Bourke-White photography photographer world The element of discovery is very important. I don't repeat myself well. I want and need that stimulus of walking forward from one new world to another. There is something demoralizing about going back to a place to retake pictures. You can no longer see your subjects in a fresh eye; you keep comparing them with the pictures you hold in your memory. [The] world was full of discoveries waiting to be made...(as a photographer) I could share the things I saw and learned...you would react to something all others might walk by. Margaret Bourke-White eye photography memories Usually I object when someone makes over-much of men's work versus women's work, for I think it is the excellence of the results which counts. Margaret Bourke-White excellence men thinking The very secret of life for me, I believed, was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility. Margaret Bourke-White rushing events secret The beauty of the past belongs to the past. Margaret Bourke-White beauty past I was to discover that the quest for human understanding is a lifetime one that has no end in sight. Margaret Bourke-White quests understanding sight It seems to me that while it is very important to get a striking picture of a line of smoke stacks or a row of dynamos, it is becoming more and more important to reflect that life that goes on behind these photographs. (1935) Margaret Bourke-White lines important goes-on The very secret of life for mewas to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility. I had picked a life that dealt with excitement, tragedy, mass calamities, human triumphs and suffering. To throw my whole self into recording and attempting to understand these things, I needed an inner serenity as a kind of balance. Margaret Bourke-White rushing serenity self
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