Youth never moves me. I seldom see anything very beautiful in a young face. I do, though-in the
downward curve of Maugham’s lips, in Isak Dinesen’s hands. So much has been written there, there
is so much to be read, if one could only read. I feel most of the peoplein my book, Observations, are
earthly saints. Because they are obsessed, obsessed with work of one sort or another. To dance, to be
beautiful, tell stories, solve riddles, perform in the street. Zavattini’s mouth and Escudero’s eyes, the
smile of Marie-Louise Bousquet: they are sermons on bravado.
-Richard Avedon, 1959
And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though
I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I
know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.
-Richard Avedon, 1970
My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.
- Richard Avedon
There’s always been a separation between fashion and what I call my “deeper” work.
Fashion is where I make my living. I’m not knocking it. It’s a pleasure to make a living that
way. It’s pleasure, and then there’s the deeper pleasure of doing my portraits. It’s not
important what I consider myself to be, but I consider myself to be a portrait photographer.
-Richard Avedon, 1974
I believe in maniacs. I believe in type As. I believe that you’ve got to love your work so
much that it is all you want to do. I believe you must betray your mistress for your work,
you betray your wife for your work; I believe that she must betray you for her work. I
believe that work is the one thing in the world that never betrays you, that lasts. If I were
going to be a politician, if I were going to be a scientist, I would do it every day. I wouldn’t
wait for Monday. I don’t believe in weekends.
If you’re headed for a life that’s only involved with making money and that you hope for
satisfaction somewhere else, you’re headed for a lot of trouble. And whatever replaces
vodka when you’re 45 is what you’re going to be doing.
-Richard Avedon, 1988
I’ve worked out of a series of no’s. No to exquisite light, no to apparent compositions, no to
the seduction of poses or narrative. And all these no’s force me to the “yes.” I have a white
background. I have the person I’m interested in and the thing that happens between us.
-Richard Avedon, 1994
I always prefer to work in the studio. It isolates people from their environment. They become in a sense . . .
symbolic of themselves. I often feel that people come to me to be photographed as they
symbolic of themselves. I often feel that people come to me to be photographed as they
would go to a doctor or a fortune teller - to find out how they are.
- Richard Avedon
~ I highly recommend you 'Darkness and Light' a documentary movie about Richard Avedon ~
Source: photoquotes.com & richardavedon.com
