--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In my photographic work I was always…" description: "\"“In my photographic work I was always especially entranced, said Austerlitz, by the moment when the shadows of reality, so to speak, emerge out of noth..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bad/w-g-sebald-2-13661_memories_in-my-photographic-work-i-was-always-esp_2070791.jpg" --- # In my photographic work I was always especially entranced… ![“In my photographic work I was always especially entranced, said Austerlitz, by the moment when the shadows of reality, so to speak, emerge out of nothing on the exposed paper, as memories do in the middle of the night, darkening again if you try to cling to them, just like a photographic print…” quote by W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bad/w-g-sebald-2-13661_memories_in-my-photographic-work-i-was-always-esp_2070791.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bad/w-g-sebald-2-13661_memories_in-my-photographic-work-i-was-always-esp_2070791.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bad/w-g-sebald-2-13661_memories_in-my-photographic-work-i-was-always-esp_2070791.jpg) > ““In my photographic work I was always especially entranced, said Austerlitz, by the moment when the shadows of reality, so to speak, emerge out of nothing on the exposed paper, as memories do in the middle of the night, darkening again if you try to cling to them, just like a photographic print left in the developing bath too long.”” [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage describes how photographs capture fleeting memories that appear and fade, reflecting the elusive nature of recollection. **In simple terms:** Photos show memories that appear then disappear. Key Takeaway Cherish moments but accept their impermanence. Themes memory art impermanence Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - archival work - creative writing - museum curation Key Concepts photography nostalgia Questions to Reflect On - How do you preserve important memories? - What role does art play in confronting forgotten pasts? A Different Perspective It may romanticize memory loss, ignoring trauma’s impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Middle of the night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-of-the-night/) [Photographs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographs/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“I believe, said Austerlitz, they know they have lost their way, since if you do not put them out again carefully they will stay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-believe-said-austerlitz-they-know-they-have-lost-their-way-since-if/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Had I realized at the time that for Austerlitz certain moments had no beginning or end, while on the other hand his whole life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/had-i-realized-at-the-time-that-for-austerlitz-certain-moments-had-no/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“It does not seem to me, Austerlitz added, that we understand the laws governing the return of the past, but I feel more and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/it-does-not-seem-to-me-austerlitz-added-that-we-understand-the-laws/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“How memory accordions time and places disparate moments next to one another like photographic slides on a tray!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaim-potok/how-memory-accordions-time-and-places-disparate-moments-next-to-one/) [Chaim Potok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaim-potok/) > [ \[The child receives impressions like\] a photographic exposure that can be developed after any interval of time and transformed into a picture. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/the-child-receives-impressions-like-a-photographic-exposure-that-can/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [I'm so personally attached to all the characters I met and photographed over the years ... the anthology is like a photographic reliquary that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hedi-slimane/i-m-so-personally-attached-to-all-the-characters-i-met-and/) [Hedi Slimane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hedi-slimane/) > [In my photographic work I was always especially entranced... by the moment when the shadows of reality, so to speak, emerge out of nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald/in-my-photographic-work-i-was-always-especially-entranced-by-the/) [W. G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald/) > [We are finally living in Plato's cave, if we consider how those who were imprisoned within the cave - who could do nothing but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-saramago/we-are-finally-living-in-plato-s-cave-if-we-consider-how-those-who/) [Jose Saramago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-saramago/) > [Shadows are in reality, when the sun is shining, the most conspicuous thing in a landscape, next to the highest lights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/shadows-are-in-reality-when-the-sun-is-shining-the-most-conspicuous/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [I believe in the invisible. I do not believe in the definitive reality of things around us. For me, reality is the intuition and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duane-michals/i-believe-in-the-invisible-i-do-not-believe-in-the-definitive-reality/) [Duane Michals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duane-michals/) > [Every human society has its lights and its shadows. That's the reality of existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-lelio/every-human-society-has-its-lights-and-its-shadows-that-s-the-reality/) [Sebastian Lelio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-lelio/) > [The Parisian is to the French what the Athenian was to the Greeks: no one sleeps better than he, no one is more openly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-parisian-is-to-the-french-what-the-athenian-was-to-the-greeks-no/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Just as in a clock, the result of the complicated motion of innumerable wheels and pulleys is merely a slow and regular movement of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/just-as-in-a-clock-the-result-of-the-complicated-motion-of/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-battle-of-austerlitz-is-the-grandest-of-all-i-have-fought/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“In a clock the complex action of countless different wheels works its way out in the even, leisurely movement of hands measuring time; in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/in-a-clock-the-complex-action-of-countless-different-wheels-works-its/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## More by W.G. Sebald > [“The tiny features below, taken together with the gentle mass of Montblanc towering above them, the Vanoise glacier almost invisible in the shimmering distance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/the-tiny-features-below-taken-together-with-the-gentle-mass-of/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“...I was just laying aside a Lausanne paper I'd bought in Zurich when my eye was caught by a report that said the remains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-was-just-laying-aside-a-lausanne-paper-i-d-bought-in-zurich-when-my/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Is the destruction not, rather, irrefutable proof that the catastrophes which develop, so to speak, in our hands and seem to break out suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/is-the-destruction-not-rather-irrefutable-proof-that-the-catastrophes/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“You adulterate the truth as you write. There isn't any pretense that you try to arrive at the literal truth. And the only consolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/you-adulterate-the-truth-as-you-write-there-isn-t-any-pretense-that/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“In this little booklet, which had belonged to a maternal great-uncle of ... mine, who spent some time working as an office clerk in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/in-this-little-booklet-which-had-belonged-to-a-maternal-great-uncle/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“It is hard, said Mme Landau, when I told her about those railway lessons, in the end it is hard to know what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/it-is-hard-said-mme-landau-when-i-told-her-about-those-railway/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“...I remembered the story Evan the cobbler had told me, about the two headstreams of Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach which are said to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-remembered-the-story-evan-the-cobbler-had-told-me-about-the-two/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Once I am at leisure, said Salvatore, I take refuge in prose as one might in a boat. All day long I am surrounded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/once-i-am-at-leisure-said-salvatore-i-take-refuge-in-prose-as-one/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“What distinguishes art from such undertaker's business is that life's closeness to death is its theme, not its addiction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/what-distinguishes-art-from-such-undertaker-s-business-is-that-life-s/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Looking at those gashed bodies, and at the witnesses of the execution, doubled up by grief like snapped reeds, I gradually understood that, beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/looking-at-those-gashed-bodies-and-at-the-witnesses-of-the-execution/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I have even begun to speak in foreign tongues roaming like a nomad in my own town.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-have-even-begun-to-speak-in-foreign-tongues-roaming-like-a-nomad-in/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“From the outset my main concern was with the shape and the self-contained nature of discrete things, the curve of banisters on a staircase,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/from-the-outset-my-main-concern-was-with-the-shape-and-the-self/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“But I have never been able to bring myself to sell anything, except perhaps, at one point, my soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/but-i-have-never-been-able-to-bring-myself-to-sell-anything-except/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“Like our bodies and our desires, the machines we have devised are possessed of a heart which is slowly reduced to embers. From the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/like-our-bodies-and-our-desires-the-machines-we-have-devised-are/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“I remember to this day how easily I could grasp what he called his tentative ideas when he talked about the architectural style of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/i-remember-to-this-day-how-easily-i-could-grasp-what-he-called-his/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) [Explore all 41 W.G. Sebald quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) ## More Memories quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I am told many children block out the memory of trauma. In fact, the healing process can only truly begin when we are willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-stone/i-am-told-many-children-block-out-the-memory-of-trauma-in-fact-the/) [Phoebe Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-stone/) > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [I have a memory like an elephant. I remember every elephant I've ever met.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-caen/i-have-a-memory-like-an-elephant-i-remember-every-elephant-i-ve-ever/) [Herb Caen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-caen/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [My greatest memories as a kid were playing sports with my dad and watching sports with my dad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-teixeira/my-greatest-memories-as-a-kid-were-playing-sports-with-my-dad-and/) [Mark Teixeira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-teixeira/) > [A well-fashioned day - with a beginning and an end, a purpose and a content, a color and a character, a feel and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/a-well-fashioned-day-with-a-beginning-and-an-end-a-purpose-and-a/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chiarello/what-keeps-me-motivated-is-not-the-food-itself-but-all-the-bonds-and/) Michael Chiarello > [Our memory is a monster; you forget it - it does not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/our-memory-is-a-monster-you-forget-it-it-does-not/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [In the name of Jerusalem. If I forget the extermination of the Jews, may my right hand wither, may my tongue stick to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menachem-begin/in-the-name-of-jerusalem-if-i-forget-the-extermination-of-the-jews/) [Menachem Begin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menachem-begin/) > [Memory revises me. Even now a letter comes from a place I don’t know, from someone with my name and postmarked years ago, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/memory-revises-me-even-now-a-letter-comes-from-a-place-i-don-t-know/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [As my films are born at the moment when they are reflected into another person's mind and memories, there are no misconceptions. I totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pirjo-honkasalo/as-my-films-are-born-at-the-moment-when-they-are-reflected-into/) [Pirjo Honkasalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pirjo-honkasalo/) > [Children, Never look Back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory . for children have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/children-never-look-back-and-this-meant-that-we-must-never-allow-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [“ving self and others is an every second of every day of every week, of every month, of every year gift that should not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanjo-jendayi/ving-self-and-others-is-an-every-second-of-every-day-of-every-week-of/) [Sanjo Jendayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanjo-jendayi/) [Browse all 11,132 Memories quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In my photographic work I was always especially entranced, said Austerlitz, by the moment when the shadows of reality, so to speak, emerge out of nothing on the exposed paper, as memories do in the middle of the night, darkening again if you try to cling to them, just like a photographic print left in the developing bath too long.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W.G. 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