Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies.

- Joseph Campbell

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858

via Mike Sgier

The concept of good photography, as generally understood, is virtually synonymous with sharp focus. Blurred and out-of-focus images, however are as inherent to the medium as those that are crisp, clear and instantaneous.

- Martin Freidman “Vanishing Presence”

Inside you will find negatives which will not make satisfactory prints.

Dark negatives indicate over exposure.

Light negatives indicate under exposure.

Blurred images indicate camera moved, subject moved, or out of focus.

Black streaks indicate camera leaks light.

Whenever you are in doubt, be sure to check the operation of your camera before you load it again.

- Failure Envelope, 1930-40 est.

Nathan Lewis, 2009, Kodak Bullet Camera (broken)

Clarence John Laughlin, The Lamia Returns, 1941

My central position, therefore, is one of extreme romanticism - the concept of "reality" as being, innately, mystery and magic; the intuitive awareness of the power of he "unknown" - which human beings are afraid to realize, and which none of their religious and intellectual systems can really take into account. This romanticism revolves upon the feeling that the world is far stranger than we think; that the "reality" we think we know is only a small part of a "total reality"; and that the human imagination is the key to this hidden, and more inclusive, "reality."

- Clarence John Laughlin, The Personal Eye

Clarence John Laughlin, The Masks Grow to Us, 1947

It therefore should be possible for even the photographer - just as for the creative poet or painter - to use the object as a stepping stone to a realm of meaning completely beyond itself.

Clarence John Laughlin, We Reached for Our Dead Hearts, late 1940's (est.)