Bill Brandt
[Photographer, b. 1904, Hamburg, Germany, d. 1983, London.]
I am not very interested in extraordinary angles. They can be effective on certain occasions, but I do not feel the necessity for them in my own work. Indeed, I feel the simplest approach can often be most effective. A subject placed squarely in the centre of the frame, if attention is not distracted from it by fussy surroundings, has a simple dignity which makes it all the more impressive.
Most photographers would feel a certain embarrassment in admitting publicly that they carried within them a sense of wonder, yet without it they would not produce the work they do, whatever their particular field. It is the gift of seeing life around them clearly and vividly, as something that is exciting in its own right.
... I did not always know just what it was I wanted to photograph. I believe it is important for a photographer to discover this, for unless he finds what excites him, what it is that calls forth at once an emotional response, he is unlikely to achieve his best work.
Instead of photographing what I saw, I photographed what the camera was seeing. I interfered very little, and the lens produced anatomical images and shapes which my eyes had never observed.
I always take portraits in my sitter’s own surroundings. I concentrate very much on the picture as a whole and leave the sitter rather to himself. I hardly talk and barely look at him.
A good nude photograph can be erotic, but certainly not sentimental or pornographic.
