Wise Words of Photography

“A photographer is sometimes a passerby and sometimes a sojourner. But that only changes his perspective, not the act of continually looking. A photographer cannot cure like a doctor, cannot defend like a lawyer, cannot analyze like a scholar, cannot comfort like a priest, cannot bring laughter like a comic storyteller, cannot transport like a singer. He can only look. That’s enough. No, that’s all there is. To a photographer, looking is everything. That’s why he must continue looking from start to finish. He gazes at the subject straight on, he faces the world with his whole being transformed into a pair of eyes. A photographer is one who stakes everything on looking.”

– Shōmei Tōmatsu