A sign of impotence

Photography, which is the first and only important contribution thus far of science to the arts, finds its raison d’etre. like all media, in a complete uniqueness of means. This is an absolute unqualified objectivity. . . .

The photographer’s problem, therefore, is to see clearly the limitations and at the same time the potential qualities of his medium, for it is precisely here that honesty, no less than intensity of vision, is the prerequisite of a living expression. This means a real respect for the thing in front of him, expressed in terms of ;hiaroscuro through a range of almost infinite tonal values which lie beyond the skill of human hand. The fullest realization of this is accomplished, without tricks of process or manipulation, through the use of straight photographic methods. It is in the organization of this objectivity that the photographer’s point of view toward life enters in, and where a formal conception born of the emotions, the intellect, or of both is as inevitably necessary for him before an exposure is made as for the painter before he puts brush to canvas. . . . Photography is only a new road from a different direction, but moving toward the common goal, which is life.

Photography is only a new road from a different direction, but moving toward the common goal, which is life.

The existence of a medium, after all, is its absolute justification if, as so many seem to think, it needs one; and all comparison of potentialities is useless and irrelevant. Whether a water colour is inferior to an oil, or whether a drawing, an etching, or a photograph is not as important as either is inconsequent. To have to despise something in order to respect something is a sign of impotence. Let us rather accept joyously and with gratitude everything through which the spirit of man seeks to an ever fuller and more intense self-realization.