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Robert Adams Quotes

... combining the concrete and the universal is at the center of what makes art important Picture Quote #1

For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It’s a natural state. You will abide in that state forever Picture Quote #1

History does not unfold: it piles up Picture Quote #1

The job of the photographer, in my view, is not to catalogue indisputable fact but to try to be coherent about intuition and hope. This is not to say that he is unconcerned with the truth Picture Quote #1

In a foreign country it is far from easy to study a scene at length when you know that at any minute someone may appear and ask what you are doing and that you can’t answer, and you haven’t many references, and you don’t know the law. Neither is it easy to find and know the subjects for portraits or comfortable to make such picture when you cannot apply an anesthesia of small talk Picture Quote #1

We rely, I think, on landscape photography to make intelligible to us what we already know Picture Quote #1

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... assume that art begins in unhappiness. True, the goal of art is to convey a vision of coherence and peace, but the effort to develop that vision starts in the more common experience of confusion and pain Picture Quote #1

... I felt that photography ought to start with and remain faithful to the appearance of the world, and in so doing record contradictions. The greatest pictures would then... find wholeness in the torn world Picture Quote #1

Among the most compelling truths in some of the early photographs is their implication of silence Picture Quote #1

The thing that keeps you scrambling over the rocks, risking snakes, and swatting at the flies is the view. It is only your enjoyment of and commitment to what you see, not to what you rationally understand, that balances the otherwise absurd investment of labor Picture Quote #1

When photographers get beyond copying the achievements of others, or just repeating their own accidental first successes, they learn that they do not know where in the world they will find pictures. Nobody does. Each photograph that works is a revelation to its supposed creator Picture Quote #1

There is always a subjective aspect in landscape art, something in the picture that tells us as much about who is behind the camera as about what is in front of it Picture Quote #1

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We have names for everything. What if we forgot about those names? And we stopped seeing things as something? What if we just observed things, watched things, without giving them a name, without coming to a conclusion? What do you think would happen? You would transcend everything Picture Quote #1

When you catch on to your awakening, the world does not change. You just see it differently, that’s all. You acquire a feeling of immortality. A feeling of divine bliss, so to speak, when things no longer have the power to affect you Picture Quote #1

C.S. Lewis admitted, when he was asked to set forth his beliefs, that he never felt less sure of them than when he tried to speak of them. Photographers know this frailty. To them words are a pallid, diffuse way of describing and celebrating what matters. Their gift is to see what will be affecting as a print. Mute Picture Quote #1

No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film Picture Quote #1

Of all the sacred places on the coast, none is more comforting than where rivers join the sea. By the river’s disappearance we are reminded of life’s passing, while by the ocean’s beauty we accept it, in a hope we cannot explain Picture Quote #1

I began making pictures because I wanted to record what supports hope: the untranslatable mystery and beauty of the world. Along the way, however, the camera also caught evidence against hope, and I eventually concluded that this, too, belonged in pictures if they were to be truthful and thus useful Picture Quote #1

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Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that beauty is commonplace Picture Quote #1

The only things that distinguish the photographer from everybody else are his pictures: they alone are the basis for our special interest in him. If pictures cannot be understood without knowing details of the artist’s private life, then that is a reason for faulting them; major art, by definition, can stand independent of its maker Picture Quote #1

Silence is, after all, the context for the deepest appreciation of art: the only important evaluations are finally, personal, interior ones Picture Quote #1

Again the important point to remember is that you should keep asking yourself questions. Do not make statements. Ask questions to yourself. The mind hates that Picture Quote #1

Beauty, which I admit to being in pursuit of, is an extremely suspect word among many in the art world. But I don’t think you can get along without it. It’s the confirmation of meaning in life Picture Quote #1

Darkroom work had, after all, never interested me except as a means to an end; the place I wanted to be was outside in the light Picture Quote #1

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You’ve always been free. You’ve always been bright and shining. Everything else is just nonsense Picture Quote #1

You are what you’ve been looking for. The answer is always in you alone. There is nothing in the external world. For the external world is an emanation of your own mind, your own thinking and your own imagination. You created this world Picture Quote #1

I’ve been so lonely trying to become a photographer. If I’d known that before, I don’t know if I had the courage to do it again. You get to a point where you feel that you have something that is your own. And if you don’t find an audience for it, you are going to burst Picture Quote #1

You can’t talk about life without talking about politics. You have to have both. If you’re just a political person, you’re going to burn out. If you, as an artist, are just focused inward, you’re going to eventually be irrelevant Picture Quote #1

I have asked students at the beginning of their careers, what things of that sort might haunt them – what things they must photograph, things they have to try to shoot even before they master the intricacies of making dye transfer prints Picture Quote #1

Philosophy can forsake too easily the details of experience… many writers and painters have demonstrated that thinking long about what art is or ought to be ruins the power to write or paint Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

... combining the concrete and the universal is at the center of what makes art important (Robert Adams Quotes) For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It’s a natural state. You will abide in that state forever (Robert Adams Quotes) History does not unfold: it piles up (Robert Adams Quotes) The job of the photographer, in my view, is not to catalogue indisputable fact but to try to be coherent about intuition and hope. This is not to say that he is unconcerned with the truth (Robert Adams Quotes) In a foreign country it is far from easy to study a scene at length when you know that at any minute someone may appear and ask what you are doing and that you can’t answer, and you haven’t many references, and you don’t know the law. Neither is it easy to find and know the subjects for portraits or comfortable to make such picture when you cannot apply an anesthesia of small talk (Robert Adams Quotes) We rely, I think, on landscape photography to make intelligible to us what we already know (Robert Adams Quotes) ... assume that art begins in unhappiness. True, the goal of art is to convey a vision of coherence and peace, but the effort to develop that vision starts in the more common experience of confusion and pain (Robert Adams Quotes) ... I felt that photography ought to start with and remain faithful to the appearance of the world, and in so doing record contradictions. The greatest pictures would then... find wholeness in the torn world (Robert Adams Quotes) Among the most compelling truths in some of the early photographs is their implication of silence (Robert Adams Quotes) The thing that keeps you scrambling over the rocks, risking snakes, and swatting at the flies is the view. It is only your enjoyment of and commitment to what you see, not to what you rationally understand, that balances the otherwise absurd investment of labor (Robert Adams Quotes) When photographers get beyond copying the achievements of others, or just repeating their own accidental first successes, they learn that they do not know where in the world they will find pictures. Nobody does. Each photograph that works is a revelation to its supposed creator (Robert Adams Quotes) There is always a subjective aspect in landscape art, something in the picture that tells us as much about who is behind the camera as about what is in front of it (Robert Adams Quotes) We have names for everything. What if we forgot about those names? And we stopped seeing things as something? What if we just observed things, watched things, without giving them a name, without coming to a conclusion? What do you think would happen? You would transcend everything (Robert Adams Quotes) When you catch on to your awakening, the world does not change. You just see it differently, that’s all. You acquire a feeling of immortality. A feeling of divine bliss, so to speak, when things no longer have the power to affect you (Robert Adams Quotes) C.S. Lewis admitted, when he was asked to set forth his beliefs, that he never felt less sure of them than when he tried to speak of them. Photographers know this frailty. To them words are a pallid, diffuse way of describing and celebrating what matters. Their gift is to see what will be affecting as a print. Mute (Robert Adams Quotes) No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film (Robert Adams Quotes) Of all the sacred places on the coast, none is more comforting than where rivers join the sea. By the river’s disappearance we are reminded of life’s passing, while by the ocean’s beauty we accept it, in a hope we cannot explain (Robert Adams Quotes) I began making pictures because I wanted to record what supports hope: the untranslatable mystery and beauty of the world. Along the way, however, the camera also caught evidence against hope, and I eventually concluded that this, too, belonged in pictures if they were to be truthful and thus useful (Robert Adams Quotes) Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that beauty is commonplace (Robert Adams Quotes) The only things that distinguish the photographer from everybody else are his pictures: they alone are the basis for our special interest in him. If pictures cannot be understood without knowing details of the artist’s private life, then that is a reason for faulting them; major art, by definition, can stand independent of its maker (Robert Adams Quotes) Silence is, after all, the context for the deepest appreciation of art: the only important evaluations are finally, personal, interior ones (Robert Adams Quotes) Again the important point to remember is that you should keep asking yourself questions. Do not make statements. Ask questions to yourself. The mind hates that (Robert Adams Quotes) Beauty, which I admit to being in pursuit of, is an extremely suspect word among many in the art world. But I don’t think you can get along without it. It’s the confirmation of meaning in life (Robert Adams Quotes) Darkroom work had, after all, never interested me except as a means to an end; the place I wanted to be was outside in the light (Robert Adams Quotes) You’ve always been free. You’ve always been bright and shining. Everything else is just nonsense (Robert Adams Quotes) You are what you’ve been looking for. The answer is always in you alone. There is nothing in the external world. For the external world is an emanation of your own mind, your own thinking and your own imagination. You created this world (Robert Adams Quotes) I’ve been so lonely trying to become a photographer. If I’d known that before, I don’t know if I had the courage to do it again. You get to a point where you feel that you have something that is your own. And if you don’t find an audience for it, you are going to burst (Robert Adams Quotes) You can’t talk about life without talking about politics. You have to have both. If you’re just a political person, you’re going to burn out. If you, as an artist, are just focused inward, you’re going to eventually be irrelevant (Robert Adams Quotes) I have asked students at the beginning of their careers, what things of that sort might haunt them – what things they must photograph, things they have to try to shoot even before they master the intricacies of making dye transfer prints (Robert Adams Quotes) Philosophy can forsake too easily the details of experience… many writers and painters have demonstrated that thinking long about what art is or ought to be ruins the power to write or paint (Robert Adams Quotes)

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