Blog Assignment 4

#8 “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.

Being an avid follower of Richard Avedon, I can understand where he comes from with this quote. When looking at a collection of Avedon photographs, it is easy to recognize his aesthetic and personal photographic style. To even be able to take a photograph, one must have a vision or a creation in mind in order to create that art, or that photograph. Portrait photography is a way to not only express the person being viewed in the photograph, but the photographer as well. Like a journalist, they are the one in control of making the viewer see the object in whatever context they would like to portray.

#9 “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams



My interpretation of this quote is that one cannot stage emotion. To really be able to capture that essence of photography expressing more than words, one must consider all surrounding factors of the picture. Especially in today's technological world, we have lighting equipment, digital cameras, photoshop, etc, all these different pieces of a giant puzzle that becomes the end product of this whole concept.


#10 “All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” ~John Berger


In my opinion, this is the best summary of photograph. Through personal experience, when I look at a picture, it always reminds me of something, especially if I was the photographer, at the place of the picture, or in it especially I can always recall certain emotions, smells, textures, stories, thoughts. No painting is able to give me that same effect unless I am the painter. In a sense, paintings can be more impersonal because usually less people are involved in it's undertaking. It is much easier to have 100 people as subjects or involved in a photograph than in a painting. Also the fact that photography can be instant gratification, and that we forget quicker than we remember.