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Quotes by Photographer
"Where 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."
68
"A very subtle difference can make the picture or not."
67
"When I first toured with Wings things that were said about me were true - I did sing out of tune."
67
"The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways."
67
"Actually, when I first started dabbling in photography, I was still working for my parents as a salesman."
66
"Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution."
66
"A woman said to me when she first sat down, You're photographing the wrong side of my face. I said, Oh, is there one?"
65
"I think that cognitive scientists would support the view that our visual system does not directly represent what is out there in the world and that our brain constructs a lot of the imagery that we believe we are seeing."
65
"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."
65
"San Francisco is perhaps the most European of all American cities."
65
"I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself."
65
"I have the worst ear for criticism; even when I have created a stage set I like, I always hear the woman in the back of the dress circle who says she doesn't like blue."
64
"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."
63
"I will always admit immediately to what's obvious, which is that Homo sapiens is inherently erotic or inherently sensual from birth."
63
"From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour."
63
"To me, that is the essence of me as a photographer. It is those ideas, working with them, formulating them and eventually putting them down on paper, photographing them and then going on to the next step."
63
"I should try to get some sleep as one doesn't know what tomorrow may bring."
62
"Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment."
62
"Uncle Brett had a definite vision that he was after, I don't think having a famous father affected him much."
62
"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."
62
"There's no question that photographs communicate more instantly and powerfully than words do, but if you want to communicate a complex concept clearly, you need words, too."
62
"A picture is the expression of an impression. If the beautiful were not in us, how would we ever recognize it?"
62
"And I think that after nearly 85 years upon this planet that I have a right after working so hard at showing the desolation and the poverty, to show something beautiful for somebody as well."
62
"My surprises come usually once I start rolling and photographing."
61
"I didn't want to let women down. One of the stereotypes I see breaking is the idea of aging and older women not being beautiful."
61
"I think hard drugs are disgusting. But I must say, I think marijuana is pretty lightweight."
61
"Never boss people around. It's more important to click with people than to click the shutter."
61
"There is only one optimist. He has been here since man has been on this earth, and that is man himself. If we hadn't had such a magnificent optimism to carry us through all these things, we wouldn't be here. We have survived it on our optimism."
61
"As soon as you forbid something, you make it extraordinarily appealing. You also bring shame in as a phenomenon."
60
"It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter."
60
"Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true."
60
"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
60
"Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs."
60
"My photographs are not planned or composed in advance, and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind, something has been accomplished."
60
"When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my minds eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without."
60
"When you go to take someone's picture, the first thing they say is, what you want me to do? Everyone is very awkward."
59
"In a portrait, you have room to have a point of view. The image may not be literally what's going on, but it's representative."
59
"I always say that I don't want to be sentimental, that the photographs shouldn't be sentimental, and yet, I am conscious of my sentimentality."
59
"Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment - this very moment - to stay."
59
"I told the students that whatever they did in class was for the wastebasket."
59
"At my Rolling Stones' tour, the camera was a protection. I used it in a Zen way."
58
"My lifestyle is bizarre, but the only thing you need to know is where the darkroom is."
58
"And my real enemy is not to hold the specimen sterile, but it's the lighting. The light is our real enemy. So we have to work with very very poor lighting. But we can increase the light with computers."
58
"I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied."
58
"In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little, human detail can become a Leitmotiv."
57
"I try and play 2 or 3 times a week to stay on my game."
57
"The kids really enjoy what they do. I check with them constantly to make sure that they're really happy to be there."
Kids,
57
"I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today's existence."
57
"Some photographers take reality... and impose the domination of their own thought and spirit. Others come before reality more tenderly and a photograph to them is an instrument of love and revelation."
56
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