The Photographer's Relationship to the World

“It is the mystery and splendor 

of photography that the

essence of the art has little to do 

with photography itself. 

The making of the picture 

is simple and quick.

The hard part is everything else:

the whole of the photographer's 

relationship to the world.” 

- Peter Galassi

Chief Curator of the Dept. of Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

(commenting on Henri Cartier-Bresson in

 The Man, The Image and the World)

What is Order?

“What is order? 

We know that everything in

the world around us is governed

by an immense orderliness. 

We experience order

every time we take a walk.

The grass, the sky,

the leaves on the trees,

the flowing water in the river,

the windows in the houses along the street,

all of it is immensely orderly. 

It is this order which makes

us gasp when we take our walk.

It is the changing

arrangement of the sky,

the clouds, the flowers, leaves,

the faces round about

us, the order, the dazzling

geometrical coherence, together

with its meaning in our minds. 

But this geometry which means

so much, which makes us feel

the presence of order so clearly,

we do not have a language for it.”   

- Christopher Alexander

(1936 - )

Poetry, Prophecy, and Religion

“The greatest thing a human soul 

ever does in this world is

see something and tell what 

he saw in a plain way.

Hundreds of people can talk 

for one who can think.

But thousands can think for

 one who can see.

To see is poetry, prophecy, 

and religion, all in one.” 

- John Ruskin

(1819 – 1900)

Direct Experience

“To the vast majority of people 

a photograph is an

image of something within 

their direct experience:

a more-or-less factual reality.

It is difficult for them 

to realize that the

photograph can be the source 

of experience, as well as the

reflection of spiritual awareness 

of the world and of self.” 

- Ansel Adams

(1902 - 1984)

Complete Consciousness

"Complete consciousness is present

to us at all times, every moment, 

but we reject it in order to 

maintain our prejudices, our ideas. 

But sooner or later we will 

relinquish our ideas in favor of response... 

Life is consciousness of life itself."

- Agnes Martin

(1912 - 2004)

Creating Distinctions

“In the sky, there is

no distinction of east and west;

people create distinctions

out of their own minds

and then believe them to be true.” 

- Gautama Siddharta

(563-483 B.C.)

Music of the Eyes

"Perhaps art is just taking out

what you don't like

and putting in what you do.

There is no such thing 

as Abstraction. 

It is extraction, 

gravitation toward a 

certain direction... 

It is nearer to music, 

not the music of the ears, 

just the music of the eyes."

- Arthur Dove

(1880 - 1946)