Message from Ray Rebortira
I came to photography as I came to infatuation --- with no special talent for it, and with no point of view. Taking pictures --- when I take them, I mean --- has nothing to do with art and less to do with reality. I'm blind to what intelligent people call "composition," I revile every emanation of "grain," and any drag through a gallery makes me want to die. As for the camera as machine --- well, I know how to press down with my finger. The rest is thingamajig.
The truth is, I'm looked on as a close-mouthed professional, serious about my trade, who intends to shut up and keep secrets when necessary. I repel all "technical" questions --- if someone wants to discuss the make of my camera (it's Japanese), or my favourite lens, or some trick I might have in developing, or what grade of paper I like, I'll stare her down. Moonings on Minor White's theories I regard as absolutely demeaning. I have a grasp on what I am about, and it isn't any of that.
---- Cynthia Ozick, Levitation: Five Fictions, Knopf, 1977
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