What we see is what we are
Filed in Art - June 19, 2007This quote is widely attributed to Ernst Haas:
“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”
I’ve found no underlying citation, but it doesn’t really matter if this is Haas or not, as it sums up, really succinctly, a part of the idea of the connection between the subject and the photographer.
It isn’t just that our personalities affect our photography. The causal channel runs deeper than that. Our personalities affect what we see, and happy accidents aside, we can only photograph what we see.
Some words not to lose, I think.
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Again, Colin, you’ve got it spot on. Reading that was a mini-epiphany – you can’t change your photography by changing your gear, or your surroundings – you have to change your thoughts, motivations and reactions to the world around you in order to see differently, and shoot that.
It also fits in with something Michael Wood talks about in his interview over on The Candid Frame, that I listened to yesterday. Basically, it’s about getting past the preconceptions of what you’re trying to photograph as led by traditional teaching and commercial influence and making it your own. Interesting stuff.
June 20, 2007 @ 9:59 am
Julie,
I haven’t visited The Candid Frame for a while. I’ll wander over there now.
June 20, 2007 @ 4:23 pm