Henry Wessel, Jr. Quotes

• Part of it has to do with the discipline of being actively receptive. At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive. At some point you are in front of something that you cannot ignore.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Eye, Discipline

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• It can happen anytime, anywhere. I mean, you don't have to be in front of stuff that's going to make a good photograph. It's possible anywhere.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Mean, Stuff

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• In a still photograph you basically have two variables, where you stand and when you press the shutter. That's all you have.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Two, Variables

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• I don't go out looking for pictures. I go out, and if something catches my eye, that's reason enough to photograph it.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Eye, Photographer

  "An uncommon eye for common places / When reality presents itself to Henry Wessel, his 'soft eyes' are available to capture -- and elevate -- the moment". Interview with Jesse Hamlin, www.sfgate.com. February 22, 2007.

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• I actually try and work before my mind is telling me what to do.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Mind, Trying

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• If you let some time go by before considering work that you have done, you move toward a more objective position in judging it. The pleasure of the subjective, physical experience in the world is a more distant memory and less influential.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Memories, Moving

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• I could feel myself changing physically. It was like something dropped out of the sky. Seeing her on the fire escape had given me a certain feeling, and then when I saw the photograph of her, it gave me a similar feeling. And I thought that was an incredibly powerful thing - that a photograph could give you a feeling that was similar to a feeling you had in the physical world. Nobody could've told me that. I knew what I was going to do for the rest of my life.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Powerful, Fire

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• Some of my best work is done when I'm half asleep.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Done, Half

  "An uncommon eye for common places / When reality presents itself to Henry Wessel, his 'soft eyes' are available to capture -- and elevate -- the moment". Interview with Jesse Hamlin, www.sfgate.com. February 22, 2007.

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• You're suddenly seeing the coherence and the interconnectedness of everything, left to right, top to bottom, front to back. It's all connected, and, somehow, it's all in balance. And that's, of course, when you go, 'Yes!'.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Balance, Coherence

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• [The photographer's task] is to describe the existing light... Chances are, if you believe the light, you're going to believe that the things photographed existed in the world.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Believe, Light

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• Most musicians I know don't just play music on Saturday night. They play music every day. They are always fiddling around, letting the notes lead them from one place to another. Taking still photographs is like that. It is a generative process. It pulls you along.

  Henry Wessel, Jr.

  Photography, Night, Play

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