Brian Skerry Quotes

I would like to become a better photographer. I'm working on that.

The lens is a tyranny.

The only thing I hate are photo shoots. I just hate them. I don't know why I cannot stand them.

The dimensionality of 3D, the depth of field, the dynamism... it's an immersive experience. And on top of that it's great because the new glasses don't make you want to throw up and they don't give you paper cuts!

Probably one of the worst things that happened to photography is that cameras have viewfinders.

I started photography more or less by accident when I was already 27. I was taken on as an assistant by a photographer who was a friend of a friend and I very quickly understood the potential of expression in photography.

The camera sees more than the eye, so why not make use of it?

My name is Weegee. I'm the world's greatest photographer.

I only use a camera like I use a toothbrush. It does the job.

Best wide-angle lens? Two steps backward. Look for the 'ah-ha'.

I think the camera is a wonderful machine, don't you? And not to take photographs in this century is crazy.

If you are using a digital camera specifically for that reason you have in mind from the beginning, then yeah, it'll work. But like if you're just shooting a normal film and just kind of just shooting extra stuff because you can because you've got the memory space, it's a bit pointless.

Nobody should touch a Polaroid [camera] until he's over sixty

At the beginning, people laughed at me because I was using snappies. Sometimes, a celebrity would look at my camera and go, Oh, I've got one of those. I'd feel like handing it to them and saying, Well, you take the pictures then. But I like using snapshot cameras because they're idiot-proof. I have bad eyesight, and I'm no good at focusing big cameras.

The technique of 35mm photography appears simple. One is beguiled by the quick viewing and operation, and by the very questionable inclination to make many pictures with the hope that some will be good.

I spent all of my money on film. I remember I would do these set-design jobs or transcribe or just anything to get, like, a $100 check and go immediately to Adorama and buy expired film.

This uses a lens system, which I have used for years in various different ways, but I've never used it in the context of an interview. This is the very first time that I've done that. It's a lens called The Revolution, so it allowed me to interview Elsa [Dorfman] and actually operate the camera. Well one of the cameras, because there were four cameras there.

See, I've always seen Jacques Cousteau as a hero, mate. He's a legend - like my dad, just a legend. And so what he did for conservation in the '60s through the '70s was just phenomenal.

The best zoom lens is your legs.

The same camera that photographs a murder scene can photograph a beautiful society affair at a big hotel.

Aladdin in his most intoxicated moments would never have dreamed of asking his [djinn] for [a polaroid] ... It's utterly new in concept and appearance, utilizing an utterly revolutionary flash system, an utterly revolutionary viewing system, utterly revolutionary electronics, and utterly revolutionary film structure.

I think as I get older that's an area that I'd like to explore more. Going from being in front of the lens to behind it.

Kodachrome, it gives us those nice bright colors Gives us the greens of summers Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah! I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph So momma, don't take my Kodachrome away.

It gives you more freedom, the digital camera.

In 1982 I bought the newly released Makina Plaubel 55mm fixed-lens camera. With this shift from 35mm to 6 x 7, I also changed from black and white to color. Later that year, I started my project on New Brighton called The Last Resort. However, the first project I shot in colour was composed of urban scenes from Liverpool. This image was on the second roll of film. It's the first good photo I made in this new chapter of my work.