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For Hours She Danced And Sang And Flirted And Did This Thing That's-she Did Marilyn Monroe. And Then There Was The Inevitable Drop. And When The Night Was Over And The White Wine Was Over And The Dancing Was Over, She Sat In The Corner Like A Child, With Everything Gone. I Saw Her Sitting Quietly Without Expression On Her Face, And I Walked Towards Her But I Wouldn't Photograph Her Without Her Knowledge Of It. And As I Came With The Camera, I Saw That She Was Not Saying No.

-Richard Avedon

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For Hours She Danced

Richard Avedon

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For Hours She Danced And Sang And Flirted And Did This Thing That's-she Did Marilyn Monroe. And Then There Was The Inevitable Drop. And When The Night Was Over And The White Wine Was Over And The Dancing Was Over, She Sat In The Corner Like A Child, With Everything Gone. I Saw Her Sitting Quietly Without Expression On Her Face, And I Walked Towards Her But I Wouldn't Photograph Her Without Her Knowledge Of It. And As I Came With The Camera, I Saw That She Was Not Saying No.

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It's In Trying To Direct The Traffic Between Artiface [sic] And Candor, Without Being Run Over, That I'm Confronted With The Questions About Photography That Matter Most To Me.

My Portraits Are More About Me Than They Are About The People I Photograph.

A Photographic Portrait Is A Picture Of Someone Who Knows He Is Being Photographed

You Can't Get At The Thing Itself, The Real Nature Of The Sitter, By Stripping Away The Surface. You Can Only Get Beyond The Surface By Working With The Surface. All That You Can Do Is Manipulate That Surface - Gesture, Costume, Expression - Radically And Correctly.

If Each Photograph Steals A Bit Of The Soul, Isn't It Possible That I Give Up Pieces Of Mine Every Time I Take A Picture?

If I Could Do What I Want With My Eyes Alone, I Would Be Happy.

Start With A Style And You Are In Chains, Start With An Idea And You Are Free.

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Sometimes I Think All My Pictures Are Just Pictures Of Me. My Concern Is...the Human Predicament; Only What I Consider The Human Predicament May Simply Be My Own.

People, Unprotected By Their Roles, Become Isolated In Beauty And Intellect And Illness And Confusion.

I Am Always Stimulated By People. Almost Never By Ideas.

I Don't Really Remember The Day When I Stood Behind My Camera With Henry Kissinger On The Other Side. I Am Sure He Doesn't Remember It Either. But This Photograph Is Here Now To Prove That No Amount Of Kindness On My Part Could Make This Photograph Mean Exactly What He.. Or Even I.. Wanted It To Mean. It's A Reminder Of The Wonder And Terror That Is A Photograph.

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Photography Has Always Reminded Me Of The Second Child.. Trying To Prove Itself. The Fact That It Wasn't Really Considered An Art.. That It Was Considered A Craft.. Has Trapped Almost Every Serious Photographer.

There Was No Such Person As Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe Was An Invention Of Hers. A Genius Invention That She Created, Like An Author Creates A Character. She Understood Photography, And She Also Understood What Makes A Great Photograph. She Related To It As If She Were Giving A Performance. She Gave More To The Still Camera Than Any Actress-any Woman- I've Ever Photographed.

The Way Someone Who's Being Photographed Presents Himself To The Camera, And The Effect Of The Photographer's Response On That Presence, Is What The Making Of A Portrait Is All About.

People — Running From Unhappiness, Hiding In Power — Are Locked Within Their Reputations, Ambitions, Beliefs.

My Photographs Don't Go Below The Surface. They Don't Go Below Anything. They're Readings Of The Surface. I Have Great Faith In Surfaces. A Good One Is Full Of Clues.

Marilyn Monroe Gave More To The Still Camera Than Any Actress, Any Woman I've Ever Photographed; Infinitely More Patient, More Demanding Of Herself And More Comfortable In Front Of The Camera Than Away From It.

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He Sleeps Fastest Who Sleeps Alone.

My Photographs Don't Go Below The Surface. They Don't Go Below Anything. They're Readings Of The Surface. I Have Great Faith In Surfaces. A Good One Is Full Of Clues. But Whenever I Become Absorbed In The Beauty Of A Face, In The Excellence Of A Single Feature, I Feel I've Lost What's Really There Been Seduced By Someone Else's Standard Of Beauty Or By The Sitter's Own Idea Of The Best In Him. That's Not Usually The Best. So Each Sitting Becomes A Contest.

I Can See Myself As A Very Old Man In A Terrific Wheelchair. Only, I Won't Be Photographing The Tree Outside My Window, The Way Steichen Did. I'll Be Photographing Other Old People.

A Photographic Portrait Is A Picture Of Someone Who Knows He's Being Photographed, And What He Does With This Knowledge Is As Much A Part Of The Photograph As What He's Wearing Or How He Looks. He's Implicated In What's Happening, And He Has A Certain Real Power Over The Result.

I Never Wanted To Be Called An Artist. I Wanted To Be Called A Photographer.

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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.

I Hate Cameras. They Interfere, They're Always In The Way. I Wish: If I Could Work With My Eyes Alone.

Sometimes I Think All My Pictures Are Just Pictures Of Me.

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A Portrait Isn't A Fact But An Opinion - An Occasion Rather Than A Truth.

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I'm Beginning To Feel Like This. Caught The Incredible Sunshine Just In The Nick Of Time Today On My Walk. The Wall Of Rain Approaching From The West Desert Was Pretty Spectacular, Too. Along With Being Gorgeous, It Was Sooo Muddy. Which Made Driving Home In No Shoes So Very Fun :) If Only I Could Post Photos Here! A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, Yes? 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.

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For Hours She Danced And Sang And Flirted And Did This Thing That's-she Did Marilyn Monroe. And Then There Was The Inevitable Drop. And When The Night Was Over And The White Wine Was Over And The Dancing Was Over, She Sat In The Corner Like A Child, With Everything Gone. I Saw Her Sitting Quietly Without Expression On Her Face, And I Walked Towards Her But I Wouldn't Photograph Her Without Her Knowledge Of It. And As I Came With The Camera, I Saw That She Was Not Saying No.

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I Think All Art Is About Control, The Encounter Between Control And Uncontrollable.

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