Famous photographers quotes about photography, images by me.
Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.
~
George Eastman (founder of Kodak)
Photography is the folk art of the twentieth century.
~
Lorraine Monk (
1960 – 1980: Executive Producer, Still Photography Division, National Film Board of Canada)
Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness. ~ Yousuf Karsh
I've also seen that great men are often lonely. This is understandable, because they have built such high standards for themselves that they often feel alone. But that same loneliness is part of their ability to create. ~
Yousuf KarshIf there is a single quality that is shared by all great men, it is vanity. ~
Yousuf KarshLook and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. ~
Yousuf KarshThe trouble with photographing beautiful women is that you never get into the dark room until after they've gone. ~
Yousuf KarshThere is a brief moment when all there is in a man's mind and soul and spirit is reflected through his eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to record.
~
Yousuf KarshWithin every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can. ~
Yousuf KarshWhen you photograph people in color, you are photographing their clothes. When you photograph them in B&W, you photograph their souls.
~
Ted Grant (a famous Canadian photographer as taken from the Sept 2002 Photographer's Forum magazine)
You can have the best work in the world and if you don't put it in front of people, you'll never get anywhere. ~
Ted GrantAlways shoot from the shadow side. ~
Ted Grant
The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don't know what to do with it. ~
Edward WestonPhotography suits the temper of this age – of active bodies and minds. ~
Edward WestonThe camera for an artist is just another tool. It is no more mechanical than a violin if you analyze it. Beyond the rudiments, it is up to the artist to create art, not the camera. ~
Brett WestonWhen you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track. ~
Weegee [1899 – 1968] (real name: Arthur H. Fellig) American independent photographer
Imagine a world without photography, one could only imagine. ~
Berenice Abbott [1898 – 1991] American photographer
The first half of the 20th century belongs to Picasso and the second half is about photography. They said digital would kill photography because everyone can do it but they said that about the box brownie in 1885 when it came out. It makes photography interesting because everyone thinks they can take a picture.
~
David BaileyAs a photographer, there are few to rival her. Her photographs show an intense honesty, a rare eye for beauty. ~ Paul McCartney on Linda McCartney
What matters is not what you photograph, but why and how you photograph it. Even the most controversial subject, if depicted by a sensitive photographer with honesty, symphathy, and understanding, can be transformed into an emotionally rewarding experience. ~
Andreas Feininger, [1906~ 1999] American photographer
I believe that photography at its best is an Art, and photo-technique is but a means to an end: the creation of the picture. Today, even a fool can learn to operate any of our modern foolproof cameras, and produce technically perfect pictures –but is this knowledge really all he needs for taking purposeful and pictorially exciting photographs? Naturally, as in any other art, there are artists and there are dabblers. If photography really were nothing but the simple and purely mechanical reproduction process the majority of people still think it is, why are there so many dull and meaningless photographs around? ~
Andreas FeiningerNo one can do inspired work without genuine interest in his subject and understanding of its characteristics. ~
Andreas FeiningerThe difference in "seeing" between the eye and the lens should make it obvious that a photographer who merely points his camera at an appealing subject and expects to get an appealing picture in return, may be headed for a disappointment. ~
Andreas FeiningerLight is the photographic medium par excellence; it is to the photographer what words are to the writer; color and paint to the painter; wood, metal, stone, or clay to the sculptor. ~
Andreas FeiningerI believe that photography at its best is an Art, and photo-technique is but a means to an end: the creation of the picture. Today, even a fool can learn to operate any of our modern foolproof cameras, and produce technically perfect pictures -~ but is this knowledge really all he needs for taking purposeful and pictorially exciting photographs? Naturally, as in any other art, there are artists and there are dabblers. If photography really were nothing but the simple and purely mechanical reproduction process the majority of people still think it is, why are there so many dull and meaningless photographs around? ~
Andreas FeiningerThe photographer has almost as much control over his subject matter as a painter. He can control light and shade, form and space, pattern and texture, motion and mood, everything except composition. ~
Andreas FeiningerA technically perfect photograph can be the world’s most boring picture. ~
Andreas Feininger
"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” ~
Aaron Siskind“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” ~
Dorothea Lange (American documentary photographer, 1895-1965)
A photograph is an opportunity to represent a state of mind. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera. ~
Dorothea Lange“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ~
Elliott Erwitt"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” ~
Ansel Adams quotes (American Photographer, 1902-1984)
“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~
Edward Steichen“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~
Edward Steichen"Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human..." ~
Edward Steichen“Photography is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~
Edward Steichen“Every other artist begins with a blank canvas, a piece of paper the photographer begins with the finished product.” ~
Edward Steichen“No photographer is as good as the simplest camera.” ~
Edward Steichen“The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each to himself. And that is the most complicated thing on earth.” ~
Edward Steichen“When I first became interested in photography, I thought it was the whole cheese. My idea was to have it recognized as one of the fine arts. Today I don't give a hoot in hell about that. The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each man to himself.” ~
Edward SteichenNot everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs. ~
Ansel Adams
Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer is a joyous sensualist, for the simple reason that the eye traffics in feelings, not in thoughts.” ~
Walker Evans (American Photographer. 1903-1975)
"Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human... ~
Duane Michals“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.” ~
Duane Michals“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” ~
Ernst HaasPhotography is a bridge between science and art. ~
Ernst Haas“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ~
Elliott ErwittI really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them. ~
Diane ArbusAll photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth. ~
Richard AvedonI photograph anything that light falls on. ~
Imogen CunninghamIn a photograph a person’s eyes tell much, sometimes they tell all. ~
Alfred EisenstaedtThere is more to know and more to see in a color photograph. ~
Joel MeyerowitzIt’s a fact: what better portrait than an extreme close-up ~
Helmut NewtonA camera, by arresting motion, gives permanence to the impermanent. ~
Freeman Patterson
I am a photographer of people because people are all I care about. ~
Francesco ScavulloIt’s no good saying “Hold it” to a moment of real life. ~
Lord Snowdon (Antony Armstrong-Jones)The camera has become my passport to unfamiliar ground. ~
Art Wolfe
"Only through my photography, am I truly spontaneous."
~ Darrell Larose, 2008
[/caption]
[/caption]
[/caption]
