Love Quote by John Sexton

Art, for Sexton, isn’t a moment of inspiration so much as a standard you’re obliged to meet. “Whatever it takes” carries the blunt ethic of the darkroom: craft as commitment, not vibe. Coming from an educator and master printer, it’s also a quiet rebuke to the idea that photography is merely capture. The photograph isn’t finished when the shutter clicks; it’s finished when the image becomes what it’s trying to be. That phrasing smuggles in a hierarchy of values: process is flexible, but the final print is non-negotiable.

The second sentence narrows from principle to devotion, and the word choices matter. “Tactile” and “sensuous” insist on photography as an object you encounter physically, not a file you scroll past. A black-and-white silver gelatin print isn’t just an aesthetic preference; it’s a whole set of cultural loyalties: the darkroom as a site of authorship, the print as a performance of control and patience, the photographer as someone who can translate luminosity into texture. In an era where images multiply frictionlessly, Sexton’s language makes friction the point. The print is valuable because it demands time, chemistry, touch, and judgment.

Subtextually, he’s defending a tradition often framed as nostalgic by digitization. But he doesn’t argue with nostalgia; he argues with sensuality and rigor. The context is the Ansel Adams lineage of “fine print” thinking: the photograph as a crafted artifact whose meaning is inseparable from its materials. In Sexton’s worldview, the image earns its authority the hard way: by being made, not merely taken.