"When that shutter clicks, anything else that can be done afterward is not worth consideration"
About this Quote
Steichen’s line is a photographer’s mic drop: the click is the verdict. It’s not just romantic purism about “getting it right in-camera”; it’s an assertion of authorship in a medium people love to treat as automatic. By declaring that anything after the shutter is “not worth consideration,” he’s drawing a hard border around the moment of exposure as the only moment that matters - the instant where intention, timing, and seeing converge. The subtext is slightly defensive, because photography has always been dogged by the suspicion that it’s too easy, too mechanical, too dependent on tools. Steichen answers by insisting the real tool is judgment, exercised under pressure.
Context sharpens the stance. Steichen comes out of early 20th-century photography when debates about legitimacy were loud: Pictorialists leaned into darkroom manipulation to mimic painting, while “straight” photographers argued for clarity, fidelity, and decisive control. He worked across both worlds, and later became a gatekeeper of photographic meaning as a curator (think: The Family of Man) and a maker of sharply composed fashion and portrait images. His quote reads like a corrective to the idea that photography can be rescued later - by retouching, by narrative, by explanation.
It also anticipates today’s culture of infinite post: presets, AI cleanup, content repackaging. Steichen is saying the photograph’s moral center is the choice you make when you press the button. After that, you can decorate it, but you can’t redeem it.
Context sharpens the stance. Steichen comes out of early 20th-century photography when debates about legitimacy were loud: Pictorialists leaned into darkroom manipulation to mimic painting, while “straight” photographers argued for clarity, fidelity, and decisive control. He worked across both worlds, and later became a gatekeeper of photographic meaning as a curator (think: The Family of Man) and a maker of sharply composed fashion and portrait images. His quote reads like a corrective to the idea that photography can be rescued later - by retouching, by narrative, by explanation.
It also anticipates today’s culture of infinite post: presets, AI cleanup, content repackaging. Steichen is saying the photograph’s moral center is the choice you make when you press the button. After that, you can decorate it, but you can’t redeem it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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