Paul Strand
[Photographer, b. 1890, New York, d. 1976, Oregeval, France.]
Thoreau said years ago, “You can’t say more than you see.” No matter what lens you use, no matter what the speed of the film is, no matter how you develop it, no matter how you print it, you cannot say more than you see.
If Ansel Adams gets a thousand dollars a print, I want ten thousand.
Photography... is either an expression of a cosmic vision, an embodiment of a life movement or it is nothing—to me.
(1919)
The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.
I don’t care how you photograph—use the kitchen mop if you must, but if the product is not true to the laws of photography... you have produced something that is dead.
(1923)
The artist is one who makes a concentrated statement about the world in which he lives and that statement tends to become impersonal—it tends to become universal and enduring because it comes out of something very particular.
No matter what lens you use, no matter what the speed of the film is, no matter how you develop it, no matter how you print it, you cannot say more than you see.
I’ve always wanted to be aware of what’s going on around me, and I’ve wanted to use photography as an instrument of research into and reporting on the life of my own time.
