Photography Quotations

[Steve Gledhill]

I saw two quotations in a letter in my newspaper today - both of which I liked and both of which reflect something of my approach to taking pictures with my LF camera.

Bill Brandt - "See the subject first. Do not try to force it to be a picture. Stand apart from it; then something will happen. The subject will reveal itself."
Minor White - "Be still until the object of your attention affirms its presence."

Has anyone got a favourite photography quotations or two to share?

[William McEwen]

I saw two quotations in a letter in my newspaper today - both of which I liked and both of which reflect something of my approach to taking pictures with my LF camera.

Bill Brandt - "See the subject first. Do not try to force it to be a picture. Stand apart from it; then something will happen. The subject will reveal itself."
Minor White - "Be still until the object of your attention affirms its presence."

Has anyone got a favourite photography quotations or two to share?

"The bigger the camera, the stiller you have to be."
-- My daughter Erin when she was very young.

[William McEwen]

I saw two quotations in a letter in my newspaper today - both of which I liked and both of which reflect something of my approach to taking pictures with my LF camera.

Bill Brandt - "See the subject first. Do not try to force it to be a picture. Stand apart from it; then something will happen. The subject will reveal itself."
Minor White - "Be still until the object of your attention affirms its presence."

Has anyone got a favourite photography quotations or two to share?

Ralph Steiner: "Be intensely yourself."

[Greg Miller]

I saw two quotations in a letter in my newspaper today - both of which I liked and both of which reflect something of my approach to taking pictures with my LF camera.

Bill Brandt - "See the subject first. Do not try to force it to be a picture. Stand apart from it; then something will happen. The subject will reveal itself."
Minor White - "Be still until the object of your attention affirms its presence."

Has anyone got a favourite photography quotations or two to share?


Interesting - that is actually a bit counter to my own personal approach: "First see the light, then find your subject". I always find it fascinating to learn about other peoples' processes.

[Bryan Lemasters]

Interesting - that is actually a bit counter to my own personal approach: "First see the light, then find your subject". I always find it fascinating to learn about other peoples' processes.

Greg,

While I understand your point, I find that light is far too frequently a fleeting thing to leave subject identification and composition to the last moment, especially when considering the setup time for large format. Quickly changing light and weather conditions can make it especially necessary to find your subject first and then anticipate the light.

BTW, I just took a look at your website. Fantastic images! I am a sucker for panoramics.

Bryan

[Phil O.]

I ran across a quote recently that reminded me of Ansel Adams' practice of pre-visualizing an image when photographing:

"It is a terible thing to see and have no vision."
- Helen Keller

[Steve Gledhill]

"The bigger the camera, the stiller you have to be."
-- My daughter Erin when she was very young.

Soooo true. Why do kids get all the best lines?

[Mike1234]

"Find the subject and wait for the light."

[Bill_1856]

"There's nothing worth photographing more than 50 yards from a road," Brett Weston (paraphrased).
(Variously attributed to both Brett and Edward.)

[Greg Miller]

Greg,

While I understand your point, I find that light is far too frequently a fleeting thing to leave subject identification and composition to the last moment, especially when considering the setup time for large format. Quickly changing light and weather conditions can make it especially necessary to find your subject first and then anticipate the light.

BTW, I just took a look at your website. Fantastic images! I am a sucker for panoramics.

Bryan

Thanks Bryan,

I generally do go out with a specific subject in mind. But I would say only about 10% of my keepers end up being the subject that I anticipated. While I understand that light is often fleeting, I also feel that in most cases it is also fairly predictable. And landscapes generally are not that hard to set up. So when I get to my location, more often than not, I see what the light is doing and then find my shot.

I do have images where I had a specific subject and specific light in mind and visited repeatedly (12+ times) until I got that, but that is not the norm for me.

But that is just me and I understand and respect that we all have our own processes that work for us.

After derailing the OP, I guess I should offer up a (paraphrased) quote (I forgot the author): "A mediocre subject in great light generally makes a much more compelling photo than a great subject in mediocre light".

[Heroique]

Close thy Adams; Open thy Delacroix.
(Apologies to Thomas Carlyle. ;) )

There’s many a best-selling photograph that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
(Apologies to Flannery O’Connor. ;) )

[Brian Ellis]

"Today is the day, now is the time." Ruth Bernhard

[William McEwen]

"There's nothing worth photographing more than 50 yards from a road," Brett Weston (paraphrased).
(Variously attributed to both Brett and Edward.)

I've heard this from several photographers:

"If you can't drive to it,

screw it."

[Mark Sawyer]

"A photograph of a leaf is not a leaf. Sometimes, it's not even a photograph."

~ Todd Walker


"Do you want to smell the stop bath concentrate? It smells like strawberries!"

~ One of my advanced photo students to beginners, their first time in the darkroom


"Through my lens passes the poetic light of universal truth and beauty, beheld on the ground glass as the inner musings of my heart and soul laid bare. It shows up as dust spots on the film."

~ Me

[ASRafferty]

You can't depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain

[Gordon Moat]

"Photography is a fad well-neigh on its last legs, thanks principally to the bicycle craze." - Alfred Stieglitz (1897)

[Phil O.]

This is one I've modified by taking out the word "books" and substituted with "photographs". It comes closest to saying what motivates me to photograph what I do. And it is being quoted from memory, so it is likely off a bit, other than the word change:

"My [photographs] are about my delight and wonder of the world as it is, particularly that which is natural."
- J.R.R. Tolkien

[Bryan Lemasters]

"What power lines? Awwww sh.............." - Me, and more than once.

[John Jarosz]

"A photograph is light & shadow, nothing more" Garry Winogrand

[Allen in Montreal]

"F 8 and be there!!"

All of my wire service mentors as a young newbie photographer.

[Mark Sawyer]

"F 8 and be there!!"


"f/4 and double-check your focus..."

[Heroique]

“A good naturalist can spot [close-up] pictures of refrigerated subjects every time. Imagine refrigerating your kids until they could not move and then photographing them – surely you could tell that they didn’t look right in the resulting photo.”

(John Shaw, “Closeups in Nature”)

[paulr]

"Photography is a fad well-neigh on its last legs, thanks principally to the bicycle craze." - Alfred Stieglitz (1897)

That is just awesome!

[paulr]

"A photograph of a leaf is not a leaf. Sometimes, it's not even a photograph."

~ Todd Walker

I really like this one also.

[Tony Karnezis]

The camera is an instrument that teaches us how to see without a camera.
-Dorothea Lange

[Marko]

"“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

[rdenney]

Ansel Adams: "There’s nothing worse than a sharp photograph of a fuzzy concept."

Ralph Vaughan Williams (of one of his compositions): "I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I mean at the time."

John Bunyan (of writing): "Still, as I pulled, it came; and so I penned"

Rick "Why did I take that picture?" Denney

[David Karp]

"D___ it. I forgot to close the lens before I pulled the darkslide!"

- By many

[Preston]

"People don't watch. They Think. It's not the same thing" Henri Cartier-Bresson

"To be able to really see, one must open not only one's eyes. One must above all, open one's heart." Gaston Rébuffat, French Alpinist

-Preston

[Bruce Barlow]

"Don't be mechanical when you should be creative. Don't be creative when you should be mechanical." - Fred Picker

"You MUST get the picture!" - Fred Picker

[Phil O.]

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."
- Albert Einstein

[ImSoNegative]

"A big camera like that must take really good pictures"
An observer looking over my 8x10

"Wow! Cool, a black and white camera"
another observer looking at my 8x10 :))

[ImSoNegative]

"the greater the artist, the greater the doubt, perfect confidnece is given to the less talented as a consolation prize"
author unknown

[Brian Ellis]

"Don't be mechanical when you should be creative. Don't be creative when you should be mechanical." - Fred Picker

Did Fred have any suggestions for knowing when you should be which?

[Robert Oliver]

"I can fix it in Photoshop!"

makes my skin crawl

[Ed O'Grady]

Jack Welpott: "I've gone to find myself, if I get back before I return, keep me here"

Minor White: "Look at it not for what it is, but for what else it is"

[Heroique]

:confused: :confused: :confused:

That's the expression I saw from a group who inspected my LF camera, and heard me explain:

"It helps me capture perception, not see facts."

(I think they weren't young enough to understand.)

[Mark Sawyer]

:confused: :confused: :confused:

That's the expression I saw from a group who inspected my LF camera, and heard me explain:

"It helps me capture perception, not see facts."

(I think they weren't young enough to understand.)

Perhaps the explanation should be, "It costs more than a dslr, but less than drugs, and the results are somewhere inbetween..."

[VictoriaPerelet]

"I'm sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it"

AA. "Examples The Making 40 Photographs" pg 59. - "Sand Dunes, Sunrise"

(Interesting fact - Google have no search results for this quotation)

[nelsonfotodotcom]

Execute query for: electronic image ansel adams



"I'm sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it"

AA. "Examples The Making 40 Photographs" pg 59. - "Sand Dunes, Sunrise"

(Interesting fact - Google have no search results for this quotation)

[csant]

"Where is the delete button if you don't like that shot?"
~ a kid inspecting my 5x7 Charten… (kids grow up with different reference points, today…)

[Mark Sawyer]

"Where is the delete button if you don't like that shot?"
~ a kid inspecting my 5x7 Charten… (kids grow up with different reference points, today…)


My darkroom has a five-gallon delete button with a plastic liner...

[Bill_1856]

W. Eugene Smith: "The most important photographic accessory is the trashcan," (paraphrased).

[William McEwen]

"Photography is a fad well-neigh on its last legs, thanks principally to the bicycle craze." - Alfred Stieglitz (1897)

This isn't a random erroneous prediction.

When Stieglitz said this, the Camera Club of New York was considering disbanding and reforming as a bicycling club.

[William McEwen]

"I'm sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it"

AA. "Examples The Making 40 Photographs" pg 59. - "Sand Dunes, Sunrise"

(Interesting fact - Google have no search results for this quotation)

In his 1982 Playboy interview, AA talked at length about "electronic" photography and was excited about it. He said he expected it to be used to make prints from existing negatives, and eventually to make photographs that were taken electronically.

[brian mcweeney]

"I'm not sure ... let's shoot it both ways." - Art Director