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
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Photograph is a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art. It is a little better than the work of an Apache, but not quite so good as that of a Cheyenne.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The camera cannot lie, but it can be an accessory to untruth.
—Harold Evans (1925–2020) British-American Journalist, Writer
Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don’t have film.
—Anonymous
This is a perfect world
I’m riding on an incline
I’m staring in your face
You’ll photograph mine
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, “I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life.” I mean people are going to say, “You’re crazy.” Plus they’re going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. A lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that’s a reasonable kind of attention to be paid.
—Diane Arbus (1923–71) American Photographer
While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.
—Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) American Documentary Photographer
If I had no sense of humor, I should long ago have committed suicide.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
You don’t take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.
—Indian Proverb
For half a century, photography has been the art form of the untalented. Obviously some pictures are more satisfactory than others, but where is credit due? To the designer of the camera? To the finger on the button? To the law of averages?
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.
—Diane Arbus (1923–71) American Photographer
It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box.
—Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) French Photographer, Journalist
Buying a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner.
—Unknown
There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.
—Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) French Photographer, Journalist
Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
There is no art which affords less opportunity to execute expression than photography. Everything is concentrated in a few seconds, when after perhaps an hours seeking, waiting, and hesitation, the photographer sees the realization of his inward vision, and in that moment he has one advantage over most arts – his medium is swift enough to record his momentary inspiration
—Sadakichi Hartmann (1867–1944) American Art Critic, Novelist, Poet
These people live again in print as intensely as when their images were captured on old dry plates of sixty years ago… I am walking in their alleys, standing in their rooms and sheds and workshops, looking in and out of their windows. Any they in turn seem to be aware of me
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) American Painter, Etcher
I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do—that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.
—Diane Arbus (1923–71) American Photographer
A good photograph is knowing where to stand
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
As I progressed further with my project, it became obvious that it was really unimportant where I chose to photograph. The particular place simply provided an excuse to produce work… you can only see what you are ready to see – what mirrors your mind at that particular time
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
I am always surprised when I see several cameras, a gaggle on lenses, filters, meters, et cetera, rattling around in a soft bag with a complement of refuse and dust. Sometimes the professional is the worst offender!
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it.
—Indian Proverb
A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.
—Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) French Photographer, Journalist
To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
People think that all cameramen do is point the camera at things, but it’s a heck of a lot more complicated than that.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
The photographic image … is a message without a code.
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
The painter constructs, the photographer discloses.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks!
—Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) French Photographer, Journalist
Every time someone tells me how sharp my photos are, I assume that it isn’t a very interesting photograph. If it were, they would have more to say.
—Indian Proverb
We regard the photograph, the picture on our wall, as the object itself (the man, landscape, and so on) depicted there. This need not have been so. We could easily imagine people who did not have this relation to such pictures. Who, for example, would be repelled by photographs, because a face without color and even perhaps a face in reduced proportions struck them as inhuman.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see.
—Indian Proverb
A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years, but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A photograph is usually looked at—seldom looked into.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
In my mind’s eye, I visualize how a particular … sight and feeling will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
Do you know what will soon be the ultimate in truth?
—Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist Painter
A picture is worth ten thousand words.
—Chinese Proverb
They used to photograph Shirley Temple through gauze. They should photograph me through linoleum.
—Tallulah Bankhead (1902–68) American Actress
Memory is very important, the memory of each photo taken, flowing at the same speed as the event. During the work, you have to be sure that you haven’t left any holes, that you’ve captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late.
—Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) French Photographer, Journalist
It is not altogether wrong to say that there is no such thing as a bad photograph—only less interesting, less relevant, less mysterious ones.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher