Who doesn’t love a good quote? They are great sources of inspiration and affirmation. I love going back to some of my favorite quotes from a variety of artists and even authors when I need a creative jumpstart or encouragement. Sometimes, I also just need a great laugh or a reminder of why I do the work that I do. Here are some of my current favorites.
“Photographers, next time someone looks at your work and says ‘Wow, you must have a nice camera,’ reply by saying, ‘Yes, and Van Goh must have had one hell of a paintbrush.’” Anon.
“Anyone can shoot chaos. But the most perceptive photographers can make compelling pictures out of uninteresting moments.” Alex Tehrani
“Photographers are violent people. First, they frame you, then they shoot you, then they hang you on the wall.” Anon.
“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful—an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” Ansel Adam
“When it comes to art, it’s important not to hide the madness.” Atticus
“A camera didn’t make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.” Peter Adams
"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
“It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.” Eve Arnold
"I walk, I look, I see, I stop, I photograph." Leon Levinstein
"God creates the beauty. My camera and I are a witness." Mark Denman
“When people look at my pictures, I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” Robert Frank.
“Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.” Salvador Dali
“The Earth is art, the photographer is only a witness.” Yann Arthus-Bertrand
“Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.” Bruni Barbey
“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don’t turn out—take another shot.” Anon.
