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I'm very little drawn to photographing people that are known or even subjects that are known. They fascinate me when I've barely heard of them.

Diane Arbus

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Diane Arbus
Age: 48 †
Born: 1923
Born: March 14
Died: 1971
Died: July 26
Fashion Photographer
Photographer
New York City
New York
Diane Nemerov
Diane Nemerov Arbus
Diane née Nemerov
Diane nee Nemerov
People
Drawn
Photographer
Subjects
Heard
Known
Littles
Fascinate
Little
Photographing
Even
Barely

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I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them.
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One of the risks of appearing in public is the likelihood of being photographed.
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Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies.
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I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.
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One thing I would never photograph is a dog lying in the mud.
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Lately I've been struck with how I really love what you can't see in a photograph. An actual physical darkness. And it's very thrilling for me to see darkness again.
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These are characters in a fairy tale for grown-ups. Wouldn't it be lovely? Yes.
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Take pictures of what you fear.
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Everybody has that thing where they need to look one way but they come out looking another way and that's what people observe.
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A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.
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I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.
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The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.
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Nothing is ever the same as they said it was.
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I mean, if you've ever spoken to someone with two heads, you know they know something you don't.
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There's a quality of legend about freaks. Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle.
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...I would never choose a subject for what it means to me. I choose a subject and then what I feel about it, what it means, begins to unfold.
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You see someone on the street, and essentially what you notice about them is the flaw.
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The more specific you are, the more general it'll be.
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If I didn't have a camera, the things I do would be crazy.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.
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