Kansuke Yamagata
[Photographer and poet, b. 1914, Nagoya, Japan, d. 1987, Nagoya.]
What is a good photograph?... To put it concisely, good photos aim at revolution... They emerge from everyday events and connect to revolution.
[Experimental] photography—unlike a knife or fountain pen—has no practical use or function. We can locate the rationale for photography’s superiority in its total lack of purpose, complete uselessness, and absolute meaninglessness.
I purposely don’t give advice regarding technique. I tell young photographers not to look at photography magazines. Rather, they should develop their own way of seeing.
The surreal exists within the real. Tireless experimentation with new photography leads to the creation of a new beauty.
Artwork comes out of some disobedient spirit against ready-made things of society.
It’s more important what you photograph than how you express what you do.
Three-dimensional objects are transformed into flat pictures. This easy transformation traps photographers.... We shouldn’t overestimate the mechanism of a lens. There is no way that reality can be copied.
