Helmut Newton
[Photographer, b. 1920, Berlin, d. 2004, Los Angeles.]
Genius and taste don’t go together.
The photographs don’t arouse me. All I can think about is the hard work it took to make them.
Look, I’m not an intellectual—I just take pictures.
Any photographer who says he’s not a voyeur is either stupid or a liar.
Some people’s photography is an art. Not mine. Art is a dirty word in photography. All this fine art crap is killing it already.
My advice for the young? There are two dirty words in photography; one is “art,” and the other is “good taste.”
I just had a bellyful and realized I had shot enough nudes to last a lifetime. In fact, although I have no idea of the number, I think I photographed too many naked women.
My mother always said: “If you have any problems, Helmut, don’t tell us, tell the doctor.”
