...just Like Some People's Instinct To Photograph

People Say To Me, "who's Your Favorite Kind Of Photographer?" Or "who Would Be Your Favorite Photographer To Have In A Workshop?" And I Always Say, "my Dad."

And That Desire-the Strong Desire To Take Pictures-is Important. It Borders On A Need, Based On A Habit: The Habit Of Seeing. Whether Working Or Not, Photographers Are Looking, Seeing, And Thinking About What They See, A Habit That Is Both A Pleasure And A Problem, For We Seldom Capture In A Single Photograph The Full Expression Of What We See And Feel. It Is The Hope That We Might Express Ourselves Fully-and The Evidence That Other Photographers Have Done So-that Keep Us Taking Pictures.

It's A Little Bit Like Talking About The Life Of Writing. The Life Of Writing May Be About Many Things, But It Always Begins With The Writer. With The Kernel Of An Idea, Or A Character, Or An Idea Or A Theme, Or Even An Outcome. But For Documentary Photographers, Photographs Begin At That Intersection Of The Real World And The Imaginative Inner World.

In Almost Every Photograph I Have Ever Made, There Is Something I Would Do To Complete It. I Take That To Be The Spirit Hole Or The Deliberate Mistake That's In A Navajo Rug To Not Be Godlike, But To Be Human.

In The Last Workshop I Taught, A Woman Flew In From Thailand. She's A Medical Doctor In Bangkok. I Asked Her In Her One-on-one Session Where She Wanted Photography To Be In Her Life.did She Want A Second Career? Was It About Earning Money? Or Was It Art? And She Said "none Of Those. I Want Photography To Be Serious In My Life." It Would Be Like Someone Wanting Music, Like Piano Playing, To Be A Richer, Deeper, And Maybe Even Harder Experience.