Word: halsman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...HALSMAN: I admired Albert Einstein more than anyone I ever photographed, not only as the genius who singlehandedly had changed the foundation of modern physics but even more as a rare and idealistic human being. Personally, I owed him an immense debt of gratitude. During World War II, when the German air raids started in France, I sent my wife and daughter to the United States. Two weeks later, Paris fell and, with a million other Parisians, I was in my car on the roads of southern France. Eventually, I reached Marseilles and saw the American consul there. He informed...
...HALSMAN: I never was an apprentice or assistant to another photographer. Everything that I know I learned by trial and error. I considered every assignment as a problem and my picture as its solution. I don't belong to photographers who shoot out of instinct--a lot of thinking goes into my taking or should I say making of pictures. A photograph is not only the solution of a photographic problem, it is also a statement of the photographer about his subject. The deeper the photographer, the deeper his statement. Therefore, in my opinion, the photographer should not concentrate solely...
...HALSMAN: Certainly life matures and deepens the vision of a photographer. It took me time to realize that a photograph is not good per se, but often one has to ask: "good for what purpose?" For instance, a photograph of a smile captured at 1/250 of a second is striking and heartwarming when you see it reproduced in a magazine where you look at it for a few moments. Framed and hanging on the wall, the same smile can eventually turn into an unbearably frozen grimace...
...HALSMAN: My training as a student of engineering was responsible for my emphasis on precise, sharp and clear photographs. My interest in psychology has made me conscious of the fact that photographic technique produced psychological overtones which could either reinforce or weaken and destroy the content which the photographer wanted to convey...
...HALSMAN: I always compare photography with writing. There was a time when only a few could read and write. If one wanted to write a letter one had to go to the public scribe. Now everybody can read and write. Yet we still have professional writers, but we have then because they are artists or because they have something to say. The analogy with photography is complete. There was a time when only the professional photographer could produce photographs. Now practically everyone can photograph. Yet we will still need professional photographers who are artists or who have something...