--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I see my practice as picture making…" description: "\"I see my practice as picture making. Whatever is available, I use.\" — Wolfgang Tillmans" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d4e/wolfgang-tillmans-15537_available_i-see-my-practice-as-picture-making-what_1879047.jpg" --- # I see my practice as picture making. Whatever is… ![“I see my practice as picture making. Whatever is available, I use.” quote by Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d4e/wolfgang-tillmans-15537_available_i-see-my-practice-as-picture-making-what_1879047.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d4e/wolfgang-tillmans-15537_available_i-see-my-practice-as-picture-making-what_1879047.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d4e/wolfgang-tillmans-15537_available_i-see-my-practice-as-picture-making-what_1879047.jpg) > “I see my practice as picture making. Whatever is available, I use.” [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He treats photography as a flexible practice, using any available material to create images. **In simple terms:** Photography is flexible and resourceful. Key Takeaway Embrace all materials in art. Themes art photography flexibility Mood experimental open‑minded Type creative inspirational When to use this quote - street photography - mixed‑media projects - resource‑limited installations Key Concepts material improvisation creative process visual storytelling Questions to Reflect On - What unconventional tools can you use? - How does material choice affect meaning? A Different Perspective Limited resources may constrain vision. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Available](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/available/) [I see](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-see/) [Making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making/) [Making Available](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making-available-2641165/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Picture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/picture/) [Picture Making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/picture-making-482801/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Practice Picture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice-picture-2641164/) [See](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/see/) [Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use/) [Whatever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whatever/) ## Related quotes > [One paradox I have found is that, the more you use computers in picture-making, the more hand-made the picture becomes. Oddly, then, digital technology…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-wall/one-paradox-i-have-found-is-that-the-more-you-use-computers-in/) [Jeff Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-wall/) > [There is a beauty of seeing a picture and making out what the story behind it might be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautam-rode/there-is-a-beauty-of-seeing-a-picture-and-making-out-what-the-story/) [Gautam Rode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautam-rode/) > [Improvisational things about picture-making... learned from working with the small camera early on have served me well in being able to think quickly when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawoud-bey/improvisational-things-about-picture-making-learned-from-working-with/) [Dawoud Bey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawoud-bey/) > [We're going to see a very, very commercial kind of picture-making.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-bart/we-re-going-to-see-a-very-very-commercial-kind-of-picture-making/) [Peter Bart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-bart/) > [Picture-making now is nothing like it was in the old days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-coogan/picture-making-now-is-nothing-like-it-was-in-the-old-days/) [Jackie Coogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-coogan/) > [Frame in terms of what you want to have in the picture, not about making a nice picture, that anybody can do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-winogrand/frame-in-terms-of-what-you-want-to-have-in-the-picture-not-about/) [Garry Winogrand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-winogrand/) > [Painting is seen as picture making, the making of an art object, something that can stand on its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-wright/painting-is-seen-as-picture-making-the-making-of-an-art-object/) [Peter Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-wright/) > [I suppose I consider my work a kind of picture making.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-stockholder/i-suppose-i-consider-my-work-a-kind-of-picture-making/) [Jessica Stockholder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-stockholder/) > [The invention of photography provided a radically new picture-making process - a process based not on synthesis but on selection. The difference was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-szarkowski/the-invention-of-photography-provided-a-radically-new-picture-making/) [John Szarkowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-szarkowski/) > [In collage you're doing it in stages so you're not actually doing it right there. You first of all draw it on the paper,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-rego/in-collage-you-re-doing-it-in-stages-so-you-re-not-actually-doing-it/) [Paula Rego](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-rego/) > [The older I become, the more I realize that drawing is the most important of all the problems of picture-making.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-sorolla/the-older-i-become-the-more-i-realize-that-drawing-is-the-most/) [Joaquin Sorolla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-sorolla/) > [Pure photography is a system of picture-making that describes more or less faithfully what might be seen through a rectangular frame from a particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-szarkowski/pure-photography-is-a-system-of-picture-making-that-describes-more-or/) [John Szarkowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-szarkowski/) > [Many pictures turn out to be limp translations of the known world instead of vital objects which create an intrinsic world of their own.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-heinecken/many-pictures-turn-out-to-be-limp-translations-of-the-known-world/) [Robert Heinecken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-heinecken/) > [There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-heinecken/there-is-a-vast-difference-between-taking-a-picture-and-making-a/) [Robert Heinecken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-heinecken/) > [Nobody has a crystal ball, and part of evolving a business plan is to say, 'I might have said we're going left, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-kavanaugh/nobody-has-a-crystal-ball-and-part-of-evolving-a-business-plan-is-to/) [Ryan Kavanaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-kavanaugh/) ## More by Wolfgang Tillmans > [This coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall and Europe coming closer together, and nightlife and techno and ecstasy culture seemed like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/this-coincided-with-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-and-europe-coming/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [There is this looking at the world as shapes and patterns and colors that have meaning, and you can't deny the superficial because the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/there-is-this-looking-at-the-world-as-shapes-and-patterns-and-colors/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [I think there is something very consoling in feeling lost in space but also feeling grounded, and seeing that all of this is part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-think-there-is-something-very-consoling-in-feeling-lost-in-space/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [What most artists using photography feel that they need to do is to show that they are serious, that they are not taking snapshots.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/what-most-artists-using-photography-feel-that-they-need-to-do-is-to/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [Whatever pictures are put into the world, the balance needs to be readdressed, it needs to be observed. That's why I am also really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/whatever-pictures-are-put-into-the-world-the-balance-needs-to-be/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [A photocopier is a camera in its own right. I was fortunate to grow up in the time and culture that I did. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/a-photocopier-is-a-camera-in-its-own-right-i-was-fortunate-to-grow-up/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [I heard this wonderful quote - "Only the brave show what they love." It's so-embarrassing to approach somebody and say you want to look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-heard-this-wonderful-quote-only-the-brave-show-what-they-love-it-s/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [I am interested not in individual readings, but in constructing networks of images and meanings capable of reflecting the complexity of the subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-am-interested-not-in-individual-readings-but-in-constructing/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [Books have this function that help me to understand the work I've done, to wrap it up. Once it's done, fortunately, it doesn't mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/books-have-this-function-that-help-me-to-understand-the-work-i-ve/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [For me, a good portrait shows the fragility and humility of the person, and at the same time a strength, a resting in themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/for-me-a-good-portrait-shows-the-fragility-and-humility-of-the-person/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [I want the pictures to be working in both directions. I accept that they speak about me, and yet at the same time, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-want-the-pictures-to-be-working-in-both-directions-i-accept-that/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [This ongoing coexistence which makes life sensational. The eyes have this ability to flip around what they see from one second to another, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/this-ongoing-coexistence-which-makes-life-sensational-the-eyes-have/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [My staged work looks so real that people actually take it for documentary. But, in fact, that is my intention, to disguise the manufacturedness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/my-staged-work-looks-so-real-that-people-actually-take-it-for/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [For example, you now look at pictures from 1968, they are hugely misleading in terms of standing in as an absolute image of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/for-example-you-now-look-at-pictures-from-1968-they-are-hugely/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [Now there is such a closed loop between realness and commercialism that one has to question why do more and more and more of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/now-there-is-such-a-closed-loop-between-realness-and-commercialism/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) [Explore all 43 Wolfgang Tillmans quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) ## More Available quotes > [I wrote when I was a young teen, but I didn't put an eye on the available markets until I was seventeen. 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Don't pack whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarissa-pinkola-estes/tell-the-truth-about-your-wound-and-then-you-will-get-a-truthful/) [Clarissa Pinkola Estes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarissa-pinkola-estes/) > [No actor wants to choose - they just want all of the options available to them all the time; we tend to be pretty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-jacobs/no-actor-wants-to-choose-they-just-want-all-of-the-options-available/) [Gillian Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-jacobs/) > [Never belong to a crowd; Never belong to a nation; Never belong to a religion; Never belong to a race. Belong to the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/never-belong-to-a-crowd-never-belong-to-a-nation-never-belong-to-a/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I used practically all the money I had available.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-ebbers/i-used-practically-all-the-money-i-had-available/) [Bernard Ebbers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-ebbers/) > [But we need to be very clear: because of our decades of collective denial, no gradual, incremental options are now available to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/but-we-need-to-be-very-clear-because-of-our-decades-of-collective/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [There was no mistake in us making abortion legal and available on demand. That was what we call progress. Just like it was no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-ruffalo/there-was-no-mistake-in-us-making-abortion-legal-and-available-on/) [Mark Ruffalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-ruffalo/) > [I m Single , Eligible But Not Available .. Limited Edition :D](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faisal-khan-neal/i-m-single-eligible-but-not-available-limited-edition-d/) [Faisal Khan Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/faisal-khan-neal/) > [I do worry because it takes all types to make our culture, to make our art. We need it to be available to all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neve-mcintosh/i-do-worry-because-it-takes-all-types-to-make-our-culture-to-make-our/) [Neve McIntosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neve-mcintosh/) > [So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/so-called-western-civilization-as-practised-in-half-of-europe-some-of/) [P. J. 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I work long hours. I have a dog and a wife. There's not a lot of available time for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ira-glass/i-m-in-production-year-round-i-work-long-hours-i-have-a-dog-and-a/) [Ira Glass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ira-glass/) [Browse all 2,134 Available quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/available/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I see my practice as picture making. 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