Nan Goldin
[Photographer, b. 1953, Washington, D.C., lives in New York and Paris.]
Where is the line between life and photographing life?
Every time I go through something scary, traumatic, I survive by taking pictures.
I don’t even like photography at all. I’m just doing photography until I can do something better.
...anybody can take a picture. Now, you don’t even have to be a person, you can be a telephone. There were always too many pictures in the world and today there are billions of pictures.
The camera is as much a part of my everyday life as talking or eating or sex.
If I want to take a picture, I take it no matter what.
For me it is not a detachment to take a picture. It’s a way of touching somebody—it’s a caress.... I think that you can actually give people access to their own soul.
When you set up pictures you’re not at any risk. Reality involves chance and risk and diving for pearls.
