Richard Avedon Blog


 "The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph, it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."


If the statement is saying that before a photo is taken, the emotion that is happening before it will not always be replicated with the same emotion before the picture was taken, I would have to say I agree. Any emotion or feeling that is seen before a moment is capture will not look the same to the person that has taken the photograph to someone looking at the photograph. The interpretation of a photo can easily be changed in anyones eyes and tell them something different about what is happening in the photo. Everything someone says about a photograph they are looking at automatically becomes an opinion. A photo reprints pieces of reality, and people are really just commenting on what they see based on the reality they are living in within themselves. 


I think that the way someone comments on an image is a mere reflection of how they see life or how they see society as a whole. I think about when I go to a museum or art gallery, the first thing you normal are asked is "what do you see?" Now every answer given is going to be different. Some might say they see something light and fluffy, while someone may say they see dark and heaviness in a photograph.  This is because everyone has their own perspective of seeing things and how they look at things and that's why there is no inaccurate way to interpret a photo because the truth of the images lies within the person viewing it. 


The last part of Avedon's statement does confuse me just a little. Is he referring to the fact no one's opinion is the truth because its an authors responsibility not to present us with one? 



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