Rediscovering someone’s work who was a master of their field, Is like discovering buried treasure, only for me to veil it again for the next person.
Ernst Haas’ work can be appreciated by anyone, but it is even more poignant when viewed in context as he was one of the chief pioneers in using colour… it’s then that you truly grasp why he’s one of the most celebrated and influential photographers of the 20th century.
Born: March 2, 1921 - Vienna Died: September 12, 1986 – New York Photojournalist & Freelance contributor: Life, Vogue, Esquire, Look… *Made his first colour photographs in the desert of Mexico, whilst his first colour portfolio was for Life Magazine. "I never really wanted to be a photographer. It slowly grew out of the compromise of a boy who desired to combine two goals—explorer or painter. I wanted to travel, see and experience. What better profession could there be than the one of a photographer, almost a painter in a hurry, overwhelmed by too many constantly changing impressions? But all my inspirational influences came much more from all the arts than from photo magazines." - E.H. Website: www.ernst-haas.com |
"Photography is a bridge between science and art.
It brings to science what it needs most, the artisitic sense, and to art the proof that nothing can be imagined which cannot be matched in the counterpoints of nature.
Through photography, both artist and scientist can find a common denominator in their search for the synthesis of modern vision in time, space, and structure.
We can write the new chapters in a visual language whose prose and poetry will need no translation.
...
There is no formula—only man with his conscience speaking, writing, and singing in the new hieroglyphic language of light and time."
--- 'On photography' by Ernst Haas [Ernst Haas Writings]
"... in visions we are alone, in taste we can be together.
All I try is to find my inside images in the outside reality.
A picture can be an answer as well as a question but if you can't answer your question try to question your question.
There are clever questions and stupid answers as well as stupid questions and clever answers.
There can be questions without answers but no answers without questions.
To be or not to be—that is a question.
To see or not to see—that is an answer."
--- Vision and Taste by Ernst Haas