9/20/09

I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading, so much so that my head hurts. I have been reading books on photography. One book that I really like is Why People Photograph by Robert Adams. Here are some quotes that really made me think:

"Your own photography is never enough. Every photographer who has lasted has depended on other people's pictures too - photographs that may be public or private, serious or funny, but that carry with them a reminder of community."(13)

"When photographers get beyond copying the achievements of others, or just repeating their own accidental first successes, they learn that they do no know where in the world they will find pictures. Nobody does. Each photograph that works is a revelation to its supposed creator."(15)

"Artists sometimes claim that they work without thought of an audience - that they make pictures just for themselves. We are not deceived. The only reward worth that much effort is a response, and if no one pays attention, or if the artist cannot live on hope, then he or she is lost."(29)

"Art is by nature self-explanatory. We call it art precisely because of its sufficiency. Its vivid detail and overall cohesion give it a clarity not ordinarily apparent in the rest of life."(31)

"Art depends on there being affection in its creator's life, and an artist must find ways, like everyone else, to nourish it. A photographer down on his or her knees picturing a dog has found pleasure enough to make many things possible."(51)

I have narrowed down my ideas for subjects down to two, vampires and old run down houses. I am going to re-read Bram Stoker's Dracula and plan on photographing scenes from the book as I envision them. I am also going to re-work the old houses so that people will understand how I feel about them.