Ernst Haas: Pioneer of 35mm Color Photography

Ernst Haas (1921-1986) was born in Austria, but later moved to NYC. He was a pioneer in color photography. Among his many accolades, he was a photographer for Life magazine.

One of his well know projects was the Creations series of photographs inspired by Genesis in the Bible. (link to these images: http://www.afterimagegallery.com/haas.htm) A friend of mine has the entire series in his house. They are absolutely stunning! In fact, this is what led me to learn more about Haas.

"The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE." This quote from Haas is one of my favorites. While we know that better camera gear can make it easier to capture certain images, there is no substitute for the artist's vision. Below are a couple of interesting musings from Haas. These, and more, can be found at The Ernst Haas Estate, http://www.ernst-haas.com/estate.html.

Let me know what you think.

Haas On Photography
"Photography is a bridge between science and art. It brings to science what it needs most, the artistic science, 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 transition.

"The camera only facilitates the taking. The photographer must do the giving in order to transform and transcend ordinary reality. The problem is to transform without deforming. He must gain intensity in form and content by bringing a subjective order into an objective chaos. Living in a time of the increasing struggle of the mechanization of man, photography has become another example of this paradoxical problem of how to humanize, how to overcome a machine on which we are thoroughly dependent....the camera.....

"In every artist there is poetry. In every human being there is a poetic element. We know, we feel, we believe. As knowers, we are like the scientist relating through logical determination. As feelers, we are like poets relating the unrelated through intuition. As believers, we are only accepting our human limitations. The artist must express the summation of his feeling, knowing, and believing through the unity of his life and work. One cannot photograph art. One can only live it in the unity of his vision, as well as in the breadth of his humanity, vitality, and understanding....

"There is no formula-only man with his conscience speaking, writing, and singing in the new hieroglyphic language of light and time."

Haas on Vision and Taste
"I looked at an apple for such a long time until it became the first apple I had ever seen. I was so excited that I called a friend to tell him my experience. But how could I find the right words for what I had experienced? How could I describe my visual sensations with such literary words..... Anyhow, I did not find the right words, and my friend did not believe me. So, I ate the apple, as I have eaten many an apple before. It was a fairly good apple.

"I called my friend again, telling him I just ate a fairly good apple, and he understood me immediately. Conclusion: 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 questions 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."