Richard Avedon Quotes

Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.

Essentially what photography is is life lit up.

Photographs aren't accounts of scrutiny. The shutter is open for a fraction of a second.

My inspiration has always been photography's ability to stop time and reveal what the naked eye cannot see.

I've never liked the moment of seeing something beautiful - a sunset, a moose, an elephant - and then raising a camera and trying to capture it for some future moment. That's always struck me as strange.

The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.

I think that's the strength of photography - to decide the decisive moment, to click in the moment to come up with a picture that never comes back again.

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.

You know, the camera is not meant just to show misery.

What I find most satisfying about photography is the way in which it allows me to document 'reality' while at the same time creating my own version thereof; in other words, the reality I present is a reality based upon what I choose to include in the frame and what I choose to leave out.

With photography, you zero in; you put a lot of energy into short moments, and then you go on to the next thing.

I like photography as a recording device. It's the best possible two-dimensional representation of 3D living things that we have.

I liked the idea of being a photographer, just that you take this one picture of this one thing that'll never happen again - it's a bit weird when you think about it.

All the people on the Flickr team are committed to what we're doing, which is to be the eyes of the world.

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

I always knew I belonged on the other side of the lens.

At some point during my travels, I had a slight change of focus which would end up defining the rest of my career. I began taking pictures of people. In addition to all the buildings, street signs and fire hydrants, I started photographing some of the interesting humans that passed by me on the street.

Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.

All I need is a camera and I'll make things happen.

Imagine there wasn't photography. Where would we be? How would I remember what I looked like as a kid? It links us all. It keeps us all together; it's what our history is.

Photography has always been a major part of my vision: my excuse for meddling with what the world looks like.

I have a kid so I like to take pictures.

I'm always taking behind-the-scenes photos and stuff.

With documentaries, what's beautiful about them is that you capture something unique in a shot, something that will never repeat itself.

When I die and my memories die with me, all that will remain will be thousands of yellowing photographs and 35mm negatives in my filing cabinets.