Robert Adams Quotes

What's the best type of light? Why that would be available light... and by available light I mean any damn light is available.

I remember being shocked when I came out from under the focusing cloth after a minute or two being submerged within that, at the startling green color of those ferns.

I've always been more of a camera hog than anything, and it's just another way to get it all out!

Photography is a demanding action sport. The light can change so quickly. I often find myself sprinting so that I can catch the perfect light falling on a photogenic subject.

The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset.

Using simple equipment and daylight alone is for me a pleasure and a replenishment.

I almost never set out to photograph a landscape, nor do I think of my camera as a means of recording a mountain or an animal unless I absolutely need a 'record shot'. My first thought is always of light.

I discovered that I could do whatever I wanted with a negative in a darkroom and an enlarger.

People who are new to photography always pull their subjects directly into the sun, which is the most unflattering light in the world.

Lifes light. Life is light. You can make light do anything you want to. Photography means 'light writing'.

My quest, through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity. To indicate the ideal proportion, to reveal sculptural mass and the dominating spirit is my goal.

I have a good friend who's a very good printer. And he does a certain amount of printing for me. I do all the developing. If somebody's going to goof my film, I'd better do it. I don't want to get that mad at anybody else.

That's the way I learned photography: You make your picture in the camera. Now, so much is made in the computer. ... I'm not anti-digital, I just think, for me, film works better.

Light may seem at times to be an impertinent intruder, but it is always beneficial in the end.

I don't have anything to say in any picture. My only interest in photography is to see what something looks like as a photograph. I have no preconceptions.

Available light is any damn light that is available!

Always remember to make room to shoot what you love. It's the only way to keep your heart beating as a photographer.

Since the recording process is instantaneous, and the nature of the image such that it cannot survive corrective handwork, it is obvious that the finished print must be created in full before the film is exposed.

When the magic hour arrives, my thoughts center on light rather than on the landscape. I search for perfect light, then hunt for something earthbound to match with it.

I always prefer photographing in available light – or Rembrandt-light I like to call it – so you get the natural modulations of the face. It makes a more alive, real, and flattering portrait.

And no photographs taken with the aid of flashlight either, if only out of respect of the actual light—even when there isn't any of it.

The fundamental peculiarity of the photographic medium; the physical objects themselves print their image by means of the optical and chemical action of light.

Money is a tool – it’s the means, not the end. Inspiration is the metric that dictates whether or not a project is a success. It’s more realistic than trying to aim for radio play, or trying to satisfy an AR, or the other gatekeepers on these platforms. I don’t even know how to create with those things in mind. But if you tell me the goal is to inspire? That makes my job a lot easier.

The thing that was most interesting to me was getting my first prints back from the printer and realizing photography doesn't end with the click of a button, it starts there. Printing is so exciting.

I can't talk about my style. It us kind of difficult for me. I don't like styles. I only like taking photos and expressing myself through them.