A Lake That Is Noisy Cannot Reflect

All Land, No Matter What Has Happened To It, Has Over It A Grace, An Absolutely Persistent Beauty.

The Thing That Keeps You Scrambling Over The Rocks, Risking Snakes, And Swatting At The Flies Is The View. It Is Only Your Enjoyment Of And Commitment To What You See, Not To What You Rationally Understand, That Balances The Otherwise Absurd Investment Of Labor.

Art Depends On There Being Affection In Its Creator's Life And An Artist Must Find Ways, Like Everyone Else, To Nourish It. A Photographer Down On His Or Her Knees Picturing A Dog Has Found Pleasure Enough To Make Many Things Possible.

Landscape Pictures Can Offer Us, I Think, Three Verities: Geography, Autobiography, And Metaphor. Geography Is, If Taken Alone, Sometimes Boring, Autobiography Is Frequently Trivial, And Metaphor Can Be Dubious. But Taken Together, As In The Best Work Of People Like Alfred Stieglitz And Edward Weston, The Three Kinds Of Information Strengthen Each Other And Reinforce What We All Work To Keep Intact - The Affection For Life.

No One, Though Has To Go To College To Make Or Understand Or Enjoy Art. Wonderful Artists And Critics - Some Of The Best - Have Educated Themselves.