Alec Soth Quotes

United States, Photographer
1969

Alec Soth is an American photographer, based in Minneapolis. Soth makes "large-scale American projects" featuring the midwestern United States. New York Times art critic Hilarie M. Sheets wrote that he has made a "photographic career out of finding chemistry with strangers" and photographs "loners and dreamers". His work tends to focus on the "off-beat, hauntingly banal images of modern America" according to The Guardian art critic Hannah Booth. His work has been compared to that of Walker Evans and Stephen Shore. He is a member of Magnum Photos.

For me, photography is as much about the way I respond to the subject as it is about the subject itself.

Alec Soth
I'm a project-based photographer; I think in narrative terms, the way a writer thinks of a book, or a filmmaker a film.

Alec Soth

For good work to develop the technology needs to become as stable and functional as a typewriter.

Alec Soth
I always say that photography's closest cousin is poetry because of the way it sparks your imagination and leaves gaps for the viewer to fill in.

Alec Soth
Photography's future is infinite and bright. It's growing exponentially, so that's great, but for me as a practitioner, that exponential growth makes it even more problematic. And so for me, it's got me more engaged with storytelling.

Alec Soth
If limitation spawns creativity, is the limitless resource of the Internet a good thing?

Alec Soth
It's a weird combination that makes a great picture. It's a complete mystery to me.

Alec Soth
Nobody really wants to be alone. People need people.

Alec Soth
- People
- Alone
- Need

For me, the act of photography is all about discovery and finding new things.

Alec Soth
Photography, for me, is a lot like web surfing in real life.

Alec Soth
- Real
- Photography
- Surfing