Quotes

“Thinking should be done beforehand and afterwards - never while actually taking a photograph. Success depends on the extent of ones general culture, on one’s set of values, one’s clarity of mind and vivacity”
-Henri Cartier Bresson, Harpers Magazine, November1961

I think this quote is true to an extent. The snapshot isn't exactly thinking before and afterwards. Sometimes if a situation comes (a good photographic opportunity) and you have a camera, you think "this is an important moment" and you just begin to photograph it. In a way, you think that is an important moment, but that moment wasn't planned out or thought about for a long period of time before hand. So sometimes you don't think a whole lot before when it comes to certain types of photography. I do believe it is important, as Bresson says, "never while actually taking a photograph." In a way that reminds me to be in the moment. Take the photo in the moment, be in the moment and that can be very successful. Success really does depend on what is happening in the world, what the world needs to see, what the world wants to see and so forth.

“Pointing a camera at a live event is not journalism. Journalism is sifting the wheat from the chaff and selecting what to include and what to exclude and put things into some sort of perspective”Ted KoppelInterviewed by Marvin Kalb

Part of being a successful photo journalist is selection. Simply taking the photos is not enough. Depending on what perspective and what you want people to see is where the photo comes in. The photo then tells the viewer a story, or a view, or something that is so loud and clear that you can't simply ignore it. Thought, selection, and a photo. That is important in photo journalism.

“Let us first say what a photograph is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is, or should be, a significant document, a penetrating statement which can be described in a very simple term - selectivity”
Bernice Abbot, 1951

I don't completely agree with this quote. More over the part of saying what a photo isn't. I believe, with not just photography but other forms of art as well, it depends on the person to say what that piece of work is. An example would be; let's say there is an image of a clock. It is a red clock with very pointy hands. To someone it may mean waiting at a denist office to be called in, because of a recolection of the image of the clock reminds them of a clock that looked very similar that they recall as a child. To them, that image is fear, apprehension, and nervousness. So I do believe that a photograph could very well BE something to someone. It just depends on the person and how far that photo brings them into something else. Love, one could argue, can be a state of mind. Looking at a photo and remembering can be a state of mind, so why not then, could a certain photo=love or dance or a painting.

However, photography is, I would say, is definally a document. It can be ugly, it can be sad, it could be a lot of things. Infinate possibilities lie within this subject. That is powerful.