ON PHOTOGRAPHY part 3

A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed. - Ansel Adams

;How do you know if a work of art means something to you? When an image sticks in your memory. When you can't forget an image, that image means something to you. You don't have to know why it means something to you. That image speaks to you, and that's enough. It doesn't matter if no one else sees it your way.

Black & white photographs have a classical or universal feeling, and their abstract qualities are quite apparent, since we don't see in monochrome. They encourage abstract thinking.

Although the referent is important in my photographs, and its visual pleasure is the stimulus to pick up the camera, for me the photograph is more important than its referent. The photograph is essentially about what pleases my eye. I want to make beautiful sheets of paper.

The photograph, however, is more than the sheet of paper. The photograph is based on actuality, but exists independently, and it is what it is.

I've looked at millions of original photographs by great photographers, and original paintings by the masters in the great museums of the world. To see art in a book, or worse, on t«he internet, is not seeing the art. In a book, you see a picture of art. On the internet, you see a poor picture of a picture of the art. With any art, one must see the artists' original to understand the value and richness of the artist's vision. The work exhibited here is the original art.

From the beginning, my goal in making prints has been to make prints that thrill me. It's never been enough to just have a picture turn out. I want the print to knock me out! The prints that knock me out with their presence are the ones I see as special. My gift is to know when they are special.

My goal in photography is to transform my vision into emotional experiences; to recognize my own visual pleasure, to capture the stimulating image, and to make the pleasure live again in the print. What sets good pictures apart is the photographers' character and strength of vision presented in the form, structure and subject of the image.

There is something similar in all my images, a similarity between one image and another. It's what I call my "style". It's a statement of myself in the expression in the work. I don't try to show it. I can't describe it. It's just there, it's positive, and it has become stronger over the years. Seeing the works together, the images seem very quiet and strong.

You may see one or two of my images in homes or galleries, and not make this connection. Here, where there are many images, you have the opportunity to see this connection. Look at all the images, see what is common to all of them. That is my style, my message, my vision, my conception.

Looking back over the sixty years of images since my first photograph, I see that I've consistently worked to strengthen my expression in the work.

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