Photographer Quotes

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.

A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.

Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.

You don't take a photograph, you make it.

My best work is often almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it.

Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment - this very moment - to stay.

It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use.

A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.

As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.

The challenge for me has first been to see things as they are, whether a portrait, a city street, or a bouncing ball. In a word, I have tried to be objective.

Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.

Does not the very word 'creative' mean to build, to initiate, to give out, to act - rather than to be acted upon, to be subjective? Living photography is positive in its approach, it sings a song of life - not death.

The camera is no more an instrument of preservation, the image is.

Photography helps people to see.

Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.

There are many teachers who could ruin you. Before you know it you could be a pale copy of this teacher or that teacher. You have to evolve on your own.

I didn't decide to be a photographer; I just happened to fall into it.