Berenice Abbott

Let us first say what photography is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. read more

Let us first say what photography is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term - selectivity.

Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere read more

Some people are still unaware that reality contains unparalleled beauties. The fantastic and unexpected, the ever-changing and renewing is nowhere so exemplified as in real life itself.

Photography helps people to see.

Photography helps people to see.

Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.

Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.

What I mean by objectivity is not the objectivity of a machine, but of a sensible human being with the read more

What I mean by objectivity is not the objectivity of a machine, but of a sensible human being with the mystery of personal selection at the heart of it. The second challenge has been to impose order onto the things seen and to supply the visual context and the intellectual framework - that to me is the art of photography.