Douglas Kirkland Quotes

The photographer's art is a continuous discovery which requires patience and time.

When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.

Photography was a blessing because it filled my time. If I had to start over, I'd pursue photography - probably to the exclusion of acting.

I have been photographing people dancing for 20 or 30 years now, and I think I will eventually do a book of dancing photos.

I was always painting when I was a kid. But then when I handled a camera when I was 17, that was it for me. I loved photography. I would work 4 or 5 hours a day. It was like a calling.

I can't really envision a time when I'm not shooting something.

People don't realize that one picture for you is just one picture. But for me, I take a thousand pictures a day. That adds up. It's tough getting somewhere on time when you have to stop that much.

It's actually one of the only things that I do that I don't get frustrated over. Everything else I do - racing, golf, video games - those things I want to win at. With photography, I think the camera wins every time.

The camera is a remarkable instrument. Saturate yourself with your subject, and the camera will all but take you by the hand and point the way.

For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.

I think a lot of the time these days people are so concerned about having the right camera and the right film and the right lenses and all the special effects that go along with it, even the computer, that they're missing the key element.

This thing called the camera, that takes everything in equally, taught me a lot about how to see.

I like to work my camera as if it were a musical instrument.

Things develop in front of my camera, and then I will try to do the best out of it. I am close, but in most of the scenes, I am trying not to be seen. I think that's the trick. I think it starts in your heart, goes to the head, and the head puts it into the finger.

Photography gives you the opportunity to use your sensibility and everything you are to say something about and be part of the world around you. In this way, you might discover who you are, and with a little luck, you might discover something much larger than yourself.

Painting is not for me either decorative amusement, or the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.

I am kept awake by the list of possibilities for shooting more photos and deciding what I must prioritise next.

I never tried to revolutionise photography; I just do what I do and keep my fingers crossed that people will like it.

All I do is make photos. It's my life.

As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.

One of these days, I'm going to publish a book of all the pictures I did not take. It is going to be a huge hit.

I'm not a politician or a scholar or political historian. I'm just a photographer who's trying to capture a spirit. It's not an intellectual process; it's an intuitive process.

I remember the first time I went out on the street to shoot pictures. I was in downtown Philadelphia, and I just took a walk and started making contact with people and photographing them, and I thought, 'I love this. This is what I want to do forever.' There was never another question.

I have always found photography magical, and became more taken with it whilst modeling.

But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.