Art for art's sake is dead, if it ever lived. Edward Steichen More Quotes by Edward Steichen More Quotes From Edward Steichen When I first became interested in photography, I thought it was the whole cheese. My idea was to have it recognized as one of the fine arts. Today I don't give a hoot in hell about that. The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each man to himself. Edward Steichen photographymenart A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it. Edward Steichen camerasphotographyinspirational Every other artist begins with a blank canvas, a piece of paper the photographer begins with the finished product. Edward Steichen piecesphotographyart Photography is a medium of formidable contradictions. It is both ridiculously easy and almost impossibly difficult. It is easy because its technical rudiments can readily be mastered by anyonwith a few simple instructions. It is difficult because, while while the artist working in any other medium begins with a blank surface and gradually brings his conception into being, the photographer is the only imagemaker who begins with the picture completed. His emotions, his knowledge, and his native talent are brought into focus and fixed beyond recall the moment the shutter of his camera has closed. Edward Steichen photographyartistsimple Once you really commence to see things, then you really commence to feel things. Edward Steichen awevisionfeels Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man. Edward Steichen photographyskymen The boy and girl going hand in hand through a meadow; the mother washing her baby; the sweet simple things in life. We have almost lost track of them. On the one side, we over-intellectualize everything; on the other hand, we are over-mechanized. We can understand the danger of the atomic bomb, but the danger of our misunderstanding the meaning of life is much more serious. Edward Steichen girlmotherbaby Photography is a major force in explaining man to man. Edward Steichen recordsphotographymen The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each to himself. And that is the most complicated thing on earth. Edward Steichen photographyearthmen Every ten years a man should give himself a good kick in the pants. Edward Steichen birthdaymenyears Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face. Edward Steichen photographyfacesfeelings I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself. Edward Steichen naturelightreal When that shutter clicks, anything else that can be done afterward is not worth consideration. Edward Steichen photographydoneart A photograph is worth a thousand words, provided it is accompanied by only ten words. Edward Steichen thousandphotographyphotographer No photographer is as good as the simplest camera. Edward Steichen camerasphotographyphotographer Every photograph is a fake from start to finish. Edward Steichen fakephotograph The precision of hisskill places his work beyond the tentative and the experimental stage. He is continually searching and exploring both himself and his surroundings. and in this exploration of the realm of places, people and things, contrasts and relationships, Callahan is no respecter of conventional technical formula or code. His delicate sense of pattern is an integral part of his photography and not a thing by itself. Edward Steichen patternsphotographypeople If it were possible for any one person or group of persons to go through a photographic finishing plant's work at the end of a day, you could probably pull out the most extraordinary photographic exhibition we've ever seen. On almost any subject. The trouble is to find the things. Edward Steichen exhibitionsfinishinggroups It is an error common to many artists, who strive merely to avoid mistakes, when all our efforts should be to create positive and important work. Better positive and important with mistakes and failures than perfect mediocrity. Edward Steichen photographyartistmistake A good daguerreotype was as perfect a kind of photograph as was ever made. Edward Steichen daguerreotypesphotographyperfect
