SG's Misanthropic Liberal

There are two things I wanted to do. I wanted to show the things that needed to be corrected. I wanted to show the things that needed to be appreciated.

Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.

We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.

We should never deny the power of intuition or hesitate to follow its revelations. I have found that when I have to labor over a composition I seldom achieve anything worthwhile. I accept, of course, the minute refinements of distance and position, and the essential adjustments of image management.

It seems as if the mind is constantly churning facts, moments, relationships, and concepts, and reverberating to the input of information and the flowering of emotion. It is essential that the artist trust the mechanisms of both intellect and creative vision. The conscious introspective critical attitude has no place in the luminous moments of creative expression, but should be reserved for later, when the work is complete.

If you’re not shoot­ing you’re wast­ing your time. If we’re argu­ing about gear we’re both wast­ing our time.

Phil Davis used to say that pho­tog­ra­phers with new work were just like two-year-olds being potty trained who are proud of their poops. “Mommy, Mommy, look what I made!” I’d be inclined to cut pho­tog­ra­phers more of a break—or at least con­coct a more dig­ni­fied descrip­tion—but it’s true, it does usu­al­ly pay to give new work some time to cure and mature so you can get over that first flush of enthu­si­asm and edit a lit­tle more objec­tive­ly. After all, even poop becomes fer­til­iz­er even­tu­al­ly when it’s processed prop­er­ly.