[b. 1955] American photojournalist
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..Photography expanded my world. It has always been for me, a medium through which I can share my observations and responses to the world.
See www.PeterTurnley.com
I have taught many photography workshops and have enjoyed doing so tremendously. I always have the feeling that I learn as much from my students as they do from me, and feel gratified by the sense of giving back something, as so many have so generously given to me.
Photographers do themselves a disservice by talking too much about the equipment they use. Consequently people don’t take them seriously as creators in their own right. When people talk to writers about their work, they ask about their ideas and inspirations. When they talk to photographers, they ask about what cameras or film they use. That’s wrong—as wrong as asking a writer what pencil and laptop he uses.
The one thing that is always clear in my mind is that the people and their stories, and the themes of life that I photograph are always more important to me than the process of photography itself.
We hear a lot about the notion of objectivity, and I’m not sure I know what that is. I know what fairness is. I know what honesty is. And I know what the heart and emotions are. I think those are the things I particularly want to embrace. I would not want anyone to take away my right and my ability to communicate my feelings about the things that I see.
