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I want my pictures to cut through political abstractions... and make a connection on a human level.

James Nachtwey

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James Nachtwey
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: March 14
Journalist
Photographer
Photojournalist
War Photographer
Syracuse
New York
Level
Levels
Abstractions
Political
Abstraction
Human
Connection
Humans
Pictures
Make
Connections
Photography
Cutting

More quotes by James Nachtwey

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If I can upset people, if I can ruin their day, then I have done my job.
James Nachtwey
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If you want to connect with people who are in distress and great grief and scared, you need to do it in a certain way. I move kind of slow. I talk kind of slow. I let them know that I respect them.
James Nachtwey
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For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war.
James Nachtwey
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Unfortunately, the world continues, history continues to produce tragedies. And it is very important that they be documented in a humane way, in a compelling way.
James Nachtwey
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I try to use whatever I know about photography to be of service to the people I'm photographing.
James Nachtwey
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None of the editors I've worked with have ever asked me to pull my punches. They've never asked me to give them anything other than my own interpretation of events.
James Nachtwey
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I began after college, about 1972. I began to teach myself photography. I went to work for a local newspaper for four years as a kind of basic training.
James Nachtwey
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I became a photographer in order to be a war photographer, and a photographer involved in what I thought were critical social issues. From the very beginning this was my goal.
James Nachtwey
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I don't believe there's any such thing as objective reality. It's only reality as we experience it.
James Nachtwey
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I'm half deaf. I have nerve damage and a constant ringing in both of my ears, and there are certain times and conditions when I can hardly hear at all.
James Nachtwey
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Photojournalists know the horrors of war can only be exposed at close range. Kodak Film.
James Nachtwey
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There is a job to be doneto record the truth. I want to wake people up!
James Nachtwey
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If Im feeling outraged, grief, disbelief, frustration, sympathy, that gets channeled through me and into my pictures and hopefully transmitted to the viewer.
James Nachtwey
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You are never freer than in that moment when you decide to expose yourself to sniper fire.
James Nachtwey
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Photography can be perceived as the opposite of war.
James Nachtwey
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The greatest statesmen, philosophers, humanitarians ... have not been able to put an end to war. Why place that demand on photography?
James Nachtwey
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I used to call myself a war photographer. Now I consider myself as an antiwar photographer.
James Nachtwey
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If you make an honest picture of war, it will be an antiwar photograph.
James Nachtwey
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Many people in this world do jobs that are dangerous and where their life is at risk and they feel that there is some kind of value to their job I guess that's how I feel about what I do. There is a social function to documentary photography that is very important and it requires people to take risks.
James Nachtwey
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It is very hard to say where you're going until you get there. That kind of thing is based very much on instinct. As a photographer, one of the most important lessons I have learnt is that you have to learn to listen to and trust your own instinct. It has helped to guide me - this far at least.
James Nachtwey