"When you say 'documentary,' you have to have a sophisticated ear to receive that word. It should be documentary style, because documentary is police photography of a scene and a murder ... that’s a real document. You see, art is really useless, and a document has use. And therefore, art is never a document, but it can adopt that style. I do it. I’m called a documentary photographer. But that presupposes a quite subtle knowledge of this distinction."
-- Walker Evans
From
Interviews with Master Photographers, published in 1977:
James Danziger: Do you see the camera as being generous or cruel?
Elliott Erwitt: Depends on what you do with it.
James Danziger: I mean innately.
Elliott Erwitt: Innately it's nothing. The camera doesn't do it. It's the person behind it. You make certain decisions. I was never very fond of Mr. Nixon and I once went to the wedding of one of his daughters with the specific intention of taking unpleasant pictures of certain people I didn't like. The event was so spectacular, so well done, so beautiful, that I totally failed in my mission.
James Danziger: Do you believe in the power of photography to effect social change?
Elliott Erwitt: Yes. Absolutely.
James Danziger: Does that affect a lot of your work?
Elliott Erwitt: Not all. I'm sorry. I just don't. I don't like to get into this heavy attitude towards everything. I really don't have that.
