what we put into our pictures

“…above all what you bring in your mind to the scene is what makes your picture. If you don’t read, if you don’t have discussions with enlightened friends, you do not get there. There is a saying about seeing: Only a few people can see but most people don’t even look. And that says a lot to me. You can only see if you have something in your mind to bring to the picture. The camera is just the least important adjunct to your ideas. Your observations are important because they’re you.

…You know, what we put into our pictures is not a smart idea. What we put into our pictures is our whole life and our whole intellectual discourse. Everything we know and everything we have done and everything that’s in our history goes into every single picture we take. Have you ever thought of that? That’s how it is.”

-Fred Herzog

I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes me a photographer and what I have to bring to the world. When I read this in an article today it really resonated… thought I’d store it here on my blog.

(Source: streetreverbmagazine.com)