Woman has been the target of much that is sordid and cheap, especially in photography. To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman, has been my mission.
Ruth BernhardI expect photographs to find me. I never thought of looking for them. I instinctively put them there. My intellect had nothing to do with it.
Ruth BernhardA person cannot learn to be a photographer. He can only cultivate what he already has. I try to make people aware that they have something very precious to cultivate.
Ruth BernhardWhat the human eye sees is an illusion of what is real. The black and white image transforms illusions into another reality.
Ruth BernhardEach time I make a photograph I celebrate the life I love and the beauty I know and the happiness I have experienced. All my photographs are made like that responding to my intuition... After all these years, I am still motivated by the radiance that light creates when it transforms an object into something magical. What the eye sees is an illusion of what is real. The black-and-white image is yet another transformation. What exactly exists, we may never know.
Ruth Bernhard