I have been using the art of photography to research the ways in which the pictorial strategies of the Nineteenth Century color the way in which the American landscape is apprehended by today's viewers. — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of the Sublime and the Picturesque in my work. After all, serious photographers have spent most of this century trying to expunge such extravagances from their art. The tradition lives on, mostly in calendars and picture postcards. I was challenged to rework and revitalize that which had been so… — John Pfahl Copy Share
I became wary of simple interpretations that assumed fixed and final meanings. — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
It would have been possible to structure my photographs in such a way that no indicators of the present were discernible. However, I wanted… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
Strangers with puzzled looks were amazingly cooperative in letting me into their rooms with my photographic gear. They let me take down the curtains, wash the windows, and rearrange the furniture. Often, too, they expressed their desire to share their view with others, as if it were a non-depletable treasure. I liked the idea that my photographic vantage points were… — John Pfahl Copy Share
As Estelle Jussim wrote, it is almost impossible for a single photograph to state both the problem and the solution. — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
Photography, of course, is the perfect medium for the investigation. It can reveal the truth of present day specifics and particularities, while at the… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
I often wondered why I was attracted to certain landscapes and not others and why my photographs (and depictions by other artists) looked the… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
I want to make photographs whose very ambiguity provokes thought, rather than cuts it off prematurely. I want to make pictures that work on… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
Somehow I felt that if Fox Talbot had had more time and more drawing talent, he would have filled in the interval between his… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
I have been using the art of photography to research the ways in which the pictorial strategies of the Nineteenth Century color the way… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
People think the camera steals their soul. Places, I am convinced, are affected in the opposite direction. The more they are photographed (or drawn… — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
While making my picture window photographs, I came to think that every room was like a gigantic camera forever pointed at the same view. — John Pfahl Copy Share Image
