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My camera, my intentions stopped no man from falling. Nor did they aid him after he had fallen. It could be said that photographs be damned for they bind no wounds. Yet, I reasoned, if my photographs could cause compassionate horror within the viewer, they might also prod the conscience of that viewer into taking action.

W. Eugene Smith

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W. Eugene Smith
Age: 59 †
Born: 1918
Born: December 30
Died: 1978
Died: October 15
Journalist
Photographer
Photojournalist
War Photographer
Wichita
Kansas
William Eugene Smith
Vilyam Yugin Smit
$15V. Yug'in Smit
V. Yugin Smit
$15Vilyam Yug'in Smit
Eugene Smith
W Eugene Smith
Vilyam Yugin
Yug'in Smit
Gene Smith
Yugin Smit
Within
Cameras
Photographs
Fall
Intention
Compassionate
Prod
Action
Photograph
Stopped
Reasoned
Also
Horror
Wounds
Viewer
Might
Conscience
Aids
Bind
Men
Taking
Fallen
Damned
Cause
Falling
Viewers
Causes
Camera
Intentions

More quotes by W. Eugene Smith

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What's the best type of light? Why that would be available light... and by available light I mean any damn light is available.
W. Eugene Smith
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If I can get them to think, get them to feel, get them to see, then I've done about all that I can as a teacher.
W. Eugene Smith
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I am constantly torn between the attitude of the conscientious journalist who is a recorder and interpreter of the facts and of the creative artist who often is necessarily at poetic odds with the literal facts.
W. Eugene Smith
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With considerable soul searching, that to the utmost of my ability, I have let truth be the prejudice.
W. Eugene Smith
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What use having a great depth of field, if there is not an adequate depth of feeling?
W. Eugene Smith
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Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness.
W. Eugene Smith
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Negatives are the notebooks, the jottings, the false starts, the whims, the poor drafts, and the good draft but never the completed version of the work The print and a proper one is the only completed photograph, whether it is specifically shaded for reproduction, or for a museum wall.
W. Eugene Smith
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I would that my photographs might be, not the coverage of a news event, but an indictment of war.
W. Eugene Smith
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I can’t stand these damn shows on museum walls with neat little frames, where you look at the images as if they were pieces of art. I want them to be pieces of life!
W. Eugene Smith
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I think photojournalism is documentary photography with a purpose.
W. Eugene Smith
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Never have I found the limits of the photographic potential. Every horizon, upon being reached, reveals another beckoning in the distance. Always, I am on the threshold.
W. Eugene Smith
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Many claim I am a photographer of tragedy. In the greater sense I am not, for though I often photograph where the tragic emotion is present, the result is almost invariably affirmative.
W. Eugene Smith
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The purpose of all art is to cause a deep and emotion, also one that is entertaining or pleasing. Out of the depth and entertainment comes value.
W. Eugene Smith
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...and each time I pressed the shutter release it was a shouted condemnation hurled with the hope that the picture might survive through the years, with the hope that they might echo through the minds of men in the future - causing them caution and remembrance and realization.
W. Eugene Smith
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Most photographers seem to operate with a pane of glass between themselves and their subjects. They just can't get inside and know the subject.
W. Eugene Smith
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I try to take what voice I have and I give it to those who don’t have one at all.
W. Eugene Smith
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In music I still prefer the minor key, and in printing I like the light coming from the dark. I like pictures that surmount the darkness, and many of my photographs are that way. It is the way I see photographically. For practical reasons, I think it looks better in print too.
W. Eugene Smith
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Up to and including the moment of exposure, the photographer is working in an undeniably subjective way. By his choice of technical approach, by the selection of the subject matterand by his decision as to the exact cinematic instant of exposure, he is blending the variables of interpretation into an emotional whole.
W. Eugene Smith
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The world just does not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera.
W. Eugene Smith
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Passion is in all great searches and is necessary to all creative endeavors.
W. Eugene Smith