Hanger

What are your feelings on photographic education?
There are an awful lot of teachers right now. I asked someone the other day: "What did you learn from your teacher?" and she said: "Well, she helped me a lot in seeing." I won't say that they can't be helped a lot, but it seems to me there has to be something else. I believe in a little self-education. Kids who go to school expecting it all to be put in their heads - that's abominable and it can't be done. You have to do a little work on your own. Last summer at Yosemite I lent a boy my 4x5 camera, which is very precious to me. He said: "What do I do with this now?" and I said: "Unscrew it and find out for yourself. Unscrew every screw and find out." Why shouldn't he learn how to collapse a camera? Why should I teach him that? You mustn't treat a child as if he's a nitwit; tell him something and let him go at it. I don't believe we get enough self-education. People want to have an exhibition as soon as they get out of school. Why do they want to be exposed to the public immediately? They don't realise that some of it should be thrown away. I told the boys up there at Yosemite that everything you do in class is to be put in the wastebasket. They didn't see that at all, though.
Imogen Cunningham

Dialogue with Photography, Paul Hill & Thomas Cooper

What a great woman! You can see some of her works here.