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<blockquote data-quote="ohkphoto" data-source="post: 183959" data-attributes="member: 1573">Interesting quote.&nbsp; I am wondering what his definition of 'fool' is.&nbsp;&nbsp; Sometimes, the gist or spirit of the thought can be lost in translation. I see in the French statement, the word 'imbeciles' is used, which is very close to the English 'imbecile' which is the equivalent of 'idiot, moron'.&nbsp;&nbsp; This latter implies more of a semi-permanent deficiency in intelligence, whereas 'fool' is a kinder, almost harmless way of saying that somebody made a bad decision . . . something like &quot;temporary insanity&quot; But then Nadar was initially a caricaturist and saw photography as a way of quickly creating 'caricatures', at first . . . so maybe &quot;fool&quot; to him was simply that . . . maybe his comment about an application to the last fools refers to the ultimate caricature of any person willing to sit for him,. . .or maybe it was a political statement.&nbsp; We know that he mostly photographed &quot;significant&quot; people and people of his own political convictions.Considering how he defined portrait photography, experimented with artificial lighting and aerial photography, I think he would have loved to be alive in today's world of photography.&nbsp; I don't think today's &quot;auto&quot; thing would have mattered to him.&nbsp; Apparently the end result was what was important, not so much how you got there.Without having read his full, detailed biography (which I would like to do eventually) and knowing in what context it was used (surely, whoever was talking to him asked a follow-up question?), it's hard to say what that last sentence refers to.Just my opinion.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ohkphoto, post: 183959, member: 1573"] Interesting quote. I am wondering what his definition of 'fool' is. Sometimes, the gist or spirit of the thought can be lost in translation. I see in the French statement, the word 'imbeciles' is used, which is very close to the English 'imbecile' which is the equivalent of 'idiot, moron'. This latter implies more of a semi-permanent deficiency in intelligence, whereas 'fool' is a kinder, almost harmless way of saying that somebody made a bad decision . . . something like "temporary insanity" But then Nadar was initially a caricaturist and saw photography as a way of quickly creating 'caricatures', at first . . . so maybe "fool" to him was simply that . . . maybe his comment about an application to the last fools refers to the ultimate caricature of any person willing to sit for him,. . .or maybe it was a political statement. We know that he mostly photographed "significant" people and people of his own political convictions. Considering how he defined portrait photography, experimented with artificial lighting and aerial photography, I think he would have loved to be alive in today's world of photography. I don't think today's "auto" thing would have mattered to him. Apparently the end result was what was important, not so much how you got there. Without having read his full, detailed biography (which I would like to do eventually) and knowing in what context it was used (surely, whoever was talking to him asked a follow-up question?), it's hard to say what that last sentence refers to. Just my opinion. [/QUOTE]

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