Eliot Porter, Visiting Artist Lecture 1974

Elliot Porter gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking about his experiences working as a medical doctor and his gradual shift of giving up science to pursue photography, mostly working in colour photography. For Porter, photography allows him to be controlled by the subject of the way in which one is controlled by their camera, whereas in painting sometimes one doesn’t have to be controlled. Porter states how he is always interested in the subject of the photograph, sometimes just as much as the final result. This has allowed Porter to chase certain types of emotions and simulations which he is seeking in art, and which he believes lies in nature. Porter ends the lecture telling participants that they can’t do everything. All they can do is what they want to do, and that is what they should concentrate on. If people don’t like what they do, that is none of their business and they should keep staying focused on their art.