Berenice Abbott Quotes

I love the medium of photography, for with its unique realism it gives me the power to go beyond conventional ways of seeing and understanding and say, This is real, too.

I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today's existence.

The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality.

My aspirations are to ennoble Photography and to secure for it the character and uses of High Art by combining the real and Ideal and sacrificing nothing of the Truth by all possible devotion to Poetry and beauty.

I want my photographs not only to be real but to portray the essence of my subjects also. In order to do that, you have to be patient.

Photography is only a new road from a different direction, but moving toward the common goal, which is life.

I say half jokingly that photography is the most difficult of the arts. It does require a certain arrogance to see and to choose. I feel myself walking on a tightrope instead of on the ground.

What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.

Writing is my profession. Photography is my hobby.

Some guys can run fast, some guys can sing, I found I could take photographs that people were interested in.

Being a photographer is like listening to music. If you have a camera, by just living your life you're bound to find some things that are worth taking a picture of. You don't have to be an audiophile to have taste in music. It happens through osmosis.

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.

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.

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

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.

When I photograph, what I'm really doing is seeking answers to things.

Because I was traveling a lot during the '70s, the only thing I could do on the road was take photographs, so there wasn't much painting during those years.

Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true.

I fight to take a good photograph every single time.

I always carry my camera with me.

When I was a teenager, I loved photography and writing.

What it all boils down to for me is having the enthusiasm to do something for enjoyment and being stimulated by what's around you. That's what photography does for me.

Photography helps people to see.

Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness.