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This seems to be a debate among eggheads. I won’t enter such a debate because I believe it is. Any medium that uses self-expression to provoke the imagination to bring an enhanced pleasure to the senses is art.
My problem is not the issue so much as the fact that I can’t do it. I mean really. Imagine not being able to work a camera. Imagine a tool such as that turning into a dead bolt in your hands. Alas, for someone who sees art everywhere – in history, in nature, in space, in textures, shapes and colors and in the people. But I can’t get a decent photo. My eyes exploding with desire to record, to use my imagination to provoke the imagination of others and – nothing. Nothing but the dull silence of a shutter that will not clink. No red light to glow, no bright light to flash – no satisfying click of the release. Some many great moments and special sights remain mute in the instrument in my hands. “Here, let me try,” someone would say. And it would work. “Here, try my camera,” another would say. And it wouldn’t work. Clearly it is me. So I have nothing to show for my experience except what I can tell, write down or sketch my memory. But my respect for photography as art remains strong – maybe stronger because I can’t get the damn thing to work. I hope you enjoy the work of someone who can.
- Robert Redford
Editor's note: written for the forward for one of his catalogs.
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