Hans Bellmer
[Artist, b. 1902, Kattowitz, Germany (now Katowice, Poland), d. 1975, Paris.]
Perhaps there was more authentic danger in the photography that was banned—why shouldn’t one be able to produce it? But this new enthusiasm finally caused us some trouble, and it suffices to say, if I remember correctly, that it was in this way that my thoughts turned to the young maidens.
Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
[Photographer, b. 1889, Brassó, Transylvania, Hungary (now Romania), d. 1984, Eze, Alpes-Maritimes, France.]
Photography in our time leaves us with a grave responsibility. While we are playing in our studios with broken flowerpots, oranges, nude studies and still lifes, one day we know that we will be brought to account: life is passing before our eyes without our ever having seen a thing.
Alfredo Jarr
[Artist, b. 1956, Santiago, Chile, lives in New York.]
As we all know, the objective and mission of the photojournalist is to show us the reality of the world. And in order to capture that reality, they go to dangerous and tragic places at the expense of their lives. I see them as the conscience of our humanity; they represent for me what is left of our humanity.
Harry Benson
[Photographer, b. 1929, Glasgow, Scotland, lives in New York.]
I was next to Bobby [Kennedy] when he was shot. It was hideous. Part of me wanted to crawl away. I couldn’t… I still wake up in the night and think about it. I even remember the f-stop. It was 1.4.
Donna Ferrato
[Photographer, b. 1949, Waltham, Massachusetts, lives in New York.]
I explore with the credo that it is safe to go anywhere as long as the small, quiet, simply constructed box is nestled under my arm.
Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
[Writer, photographer, mathematician, and logician, b. 1832, Daresbury, Cheshire, England, d. 1898, Guildford, Surrey, England.]
The first half of 1864 is drawing to an end. Oh holy and merciful God, grant for Christ’s sake that the second half may be spent more as in Thy sight—that it may not be sullied with the sins that have clouded these six months, and so much of my life hitherto. Help me for Christ’s sake. Amen. I write this in my photographic studio, with the earnest hope that from this may date, by God’s blessing, the commencement of a new and better life.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
[Photographer and painter, b. 1908, Chanteloup, France, d. 2004, Paris.]
The profession depends so much upon the relations the photographer establishes with the people he is photographing, that a false relationship, a wrong word or attitude, can ruin everything.
Allan Sekula
[Photographer, writer, and theorist, b. 1951, Erie, Pennsylvania, d. 2013, Los Angeles.]
Every work of photographic art has its lurking, objectifying inverse in the archives of the police.
