| "Most photographers
remember very nearly every picture they have taken. Some, who like myself
have made perhaps half a million, may remember all of them. And if a picture
of theirs appears somewhere later, over the years, they will spot it immediately
and, like a parent unexpectedly seeing the face of a son or daughter in
a crowd, may hold it in view for a moment with the feeling that it is something
profoundly theirs. In fact, they may even recognize some pictures as their
own that they have never seen, because the photojournalists in the field
often ship their film to their home offices unprocessed and do not have
a chance to see those pictures that are not published. Their editors, always
pressed for time, have creamed off what they think is the best of the take
and sent the rest to the files where they may languish for years.
Still during that instant
of seeing the subject through the viewfinder there is a remarkable imprinting
on his memory. Once a photographer sees and captures an image through his
camera it becomes his for his lifetime."
(Carl Mydans) |
