Comments on: I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works. http://www.avisualsociety.com/2007/11/27/i-put-all-my-genius-into-my-life-i-put-only-my-talent-into-my-works/ "A fashion picture is a portrait, just as a portrait is a fashion picture." - Irving Penn Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:17:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 by: anon http://www.avisualsociety.com/2007/11/27/i-put-all-my-genius-into-my-life-i-put-only-my-talent-into-my-works/#comment-756 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:54:49 +0000 http://www.avisualsociety.com/2007/11/27/i-put-all-my-genius-into-my-life-i-put-only-my-talent-into-my-works/#comment-756 one of the old boys once said that photography is the only art form that doesn't create something in a place of nothing; rather, the opposite is true: it's subtractive; it takes what is already there and reduces it. This makes it difficult. anyway, there are few great photographers inn history. Avedon was the guy of the 20th century, bar none. Yes, Penn too, but Avedon's ideas were so closely tied to late modernism and post-modernism... What it comes down to: doing the photography is easy; having aesthetic is tricker, having the ability to sweat over it is harder, having the honest ideas is very very hard; having all 3 together is near impossible and something only God can sort out. one of the old boys once said that photography is the only art form that doesn’t create something in a place of nothing; rather, the opposite is true: it’s subtractive; it takes what is already there and reduces it. This makes it difficult.

anyway, there are few great photographers inn history. Avedon was the guy of the 20th century, bar none. Yes, Penn too, but Avedon’s ideas were so closely tied to late modernism and post-modernism…

What it comes down to: doing the photography is easy; having aesthetic is tricker, having the ability to sweat over it is harder, having the honest ideas is very very hard; having all 3 together is near impossible and something only God can sort out.

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