If you cannot make great photo's in and around your house......

Ron789

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Many years ago I read a quote from a famous photographer, saying (something like): "if you cannot make great photo's in and around your house, you cannot make great photo's anywhere".

Does anyone recognise this quote and if so, would you happen to know who said this, and on which occasion?

I personally fully agree with it and over the past years I more and more focussed on making photo's in and around my house, resulting in an exhibition in a local art gallery and my first book "Droomplek" ("Dreamplace") presented December 1.

This quote / wisdom / has been on my mind for decades so I would really like to know who said this.

Ron
www.ronmoelijker.nl
 

slackercrurster

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No, don't know, but it is not true. In and around my house there are no / few people to do street work. Weegee termed table top photography as a clear case of mental masturbation. If you are into that type of work, then yes, in and around your house. If you expand a few blocks then it is R.E. Meatyard style. For the rest of us we need to wander if people are our landscape.
 

Patrick Robert James

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Strand had the ol' "On My Doorstep". Weston didn't like walking much away from the car if you believe everything you read. Newton wouldn't go more than a kilometer from his hotel, preferably not leaving his hotel at all. Sudek make a series of amazing photographs on his windowsill. So did Kertesz when he was older. Kertesz did it with a Polaroid.

As far as who said it first, who knows. It is an expression that has been around a long time. It is basically true. You can either see or you can't.
 

winger

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Rick A

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I said it. It just means open your eyes and engage your imagination. There are great photos to be made no matter where you are.
 

removed account4

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i have no clue who said it, but whoever it was knew what they were talking about !
 

Sirius Glass

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+1
 

Vaughn

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I thought it was Ruth Bernhard, but could not track it down.

After photographing along Prairie Creek for 40 years, even tho it is 50 miles up the road, it is my backyard. Get off my lawn!

5x7 Carbon print: Prairie Creek, Fog
 

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OptiKen

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Obviously, he has never been to my neighborhood
 

Arklatexian

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I read that YOU said it so I am going quote YOU because it is true. So you can quit worrying about the quote from someone else. It is now YOUR quote! At least as far as I am concerned.......Regards!
 

MattKing

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I bet it was HRH Queen Elizabeth II who said it.



I wonder which of her houses she meant?
 

Black Dog

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MattKing said:
I bet it was HRH Queen Elizabeth II who said it.



I wonder which of her houses she meant?
Click to expand...
One likes to get out and about for a bit of that street photography every now and then!
 

Sirius Glass

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If you cannot make a great photo in and around your house ...

... get off your ass and go some place else! ​
 

Russ - SVP

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Rick A said:
I said it. It just means open your eyes and engage your imagination. There are great photos to be made no matter where you are.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 

guangong

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Most of my photography is a kind of street photography, even if much of it is in music venues and bars. However, I enjoy making photographic studies around the house, especially a cherry tree that has been dying for the past 15 yrs, how a couple of my marble pieces look through changes in weather and seasons. Though I am a lousy animal photographer because every time I see a bear, fox or interesting bird I forget all about the camera. Probably would be a failure as a news photographer too.
 

Chan Tran

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I think it's true. I don't take great pictures but I do have pictures I think are decent. Among those about the same amount taken around my house as those taken when I traveled around the world.
 

scheimfluger_77

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Sirius Glass said:
If you cannot make a great photo in and around your house ...

... get off your ass and go some place else! ​
Click to expand...
I like your style. And this is the primary message in “The War of Art” that someone here recently recommended. There is no shortcut, or substitute. You must put in the work.
 

jim10219

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In my house, yes. Around my house, no. I live in an ugly and somewhat dangerous area. If you pull out a camera around here, you might get shot by a paranoid whacko who thinks your with a secret government surveillance service, or mugged by a drug addict. Beyond that, the architecture is at best an eyesore (mostly concrete or brick strip malls). Due to our violent weather and slow economy, no one invests much in buildings. The small forests are packed with brush so thick you can't walk through them. The wildlife consists of stray cats, squirrels, and crows. The lakes are purely utilitarian (man made water storage tanks), and look the part (and often dirty). There aren't many parks that are open. Most are closed due to too much illegal activity (drugs, gangs, and prostitution) so the few remaining ones are often packed with kids. And once again, taking photos near other people's kids can get you shot (unless it's with a cell phone for some reason).

There's a large cemetery near by that's pretty, but that's seen as a pretty disrespectful act around here. There are some old military planes on the ground, but their on the edge of a military base, and photographing around that will draw the attention of military police. There are utility lines everywhere, so you either have to incorporate them into your image or edit them out.

All of that being said, I do agree with the idea. Taking a good photo is more about the ability to see beauty than the ability to capture it.
 

Vaughn

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I thought Oklahoma was OK.
 

Billy Axeman

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All my photo's from the last 4 years have been shot in the city where I live. And to my own surprise I found much more interesting subjects in such a limited area than anticipated. What I see though is that after some time you get an overall uniformity, and small variations on the same subject, but when you want to see it positive it could be interpreted as a style.

I'm actually a minimalist person so I like to work in a restricted environment and concentrate on workmanship and things like composition, so for me the subjects are of lesser importance.

With such a habit you can also avoid the rat-race for the most spectacular photo's of them all, which only leads to frustration and a dislike of your own capabilities.

There are quite a few photographers who only roamed their own city and documented what they saw, and they left a valued heritage of historical importance. So I tell myself that one day my work will be cited too as an interesting way to work.
 

Vaughn

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NedL said:
Yeah, that post make me want to count my blessings!
Click to expand...
While rural NW California does have its share of problems; social, racial, environmental, economical, drugs -- a lack of beauty is not one of them.

It is hard to sell a photograph here -- why hang it on the wall when it is outside your door? The photograph needs to be able to draw more out of the viewer, to make a connection, rather than to be just as beautiful as the outdoors.
 

removed account4

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i think the grass is always greener...
people who have straight hair get a perm
people with curly hair get it straightened
people with hair shave their heads
people with no hair get a toupée
im lucky cause where i live its
2 seconds from urban blight
3 seconds from the coast
4 seconds from woodlands
5 seconds from chateau/mansions
and everyone gets a nose job at 16
is part curly part straightened ( its a wig )
and is greytoned from being in a glass "smokingcube"
one too manytimes at the zurich airport...
 
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