"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera."- Lewis Hine.
This quote gave me very mixed emotions. It made me angry to think that Hine could only find photography as a means to an end and not enjoyable or gratifying in any way. Photography is generally something that involves the whole population, with each person being able to get into it at any level they want. Then on the other hand, I thought of it from more of a writers point of view, or in that same artistic mind frame. Telling a story through words is obviously the general goal as a writer. You are capturing something with what you tell. Possibly Lewis Hine wanted to be a writer as a child but was never able to express himself well on paper, and was lucky enough to be able to capture what he wanted to say to the world in his photos. Many artists have something to say or express- whether it is something that they need to do for themselves or something that is meant to be directed towards everyone. Hine obviously has this in him. Looking at it that way, I found this quote to be not carry some philosophical air- hiding something I was supposed to find perspective on, but just to be one man's struggles with expression.
I think photographic images reveal the story better when you don't even realize a story is there- when you capture someone's emotions, etc. Written words capture the story better when you know what you are trying to say and want to get a specific point across and don't want to leave it open to interpretation. I also believe that photos and words work very well together. Photos can capture things that can help you see something in a new way and realize how to say something on paper. They can help you see that you even have something to say. They can help with the details. Books can also make you realize what it is out there in the world that you want to capture on photos. It is a relationship between the two.
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