Henri Cartier-Bresson Quotes

If you're a photographer, you end up being the raw creative force that allows other people to see what kind of narrative you want to be giving or what kind of art that you want people to see.

The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness.

Suddenly this camera, this thing, allowed me to move around the world in a certain kind of way, with a certain kind of purpose. (On receiving a camera for her twenty-first birthday)

I've always believed that photography is a way to shape human perception.

I love photography and I love the art of photography. So when I'm working with high-level art photographers, I give them artistic freedom because I want that for myself when it's my turn to do my work and I never try and control it or say I'll only do this or I want it like that.

I have never taken a photograph without one thought in my head to amuse myself.

You see what you think, you see what you feel, you are what you see If with the camera you can make others see it - that is photography.

Only a fraction of the camera's possibilities interests me - the marvelous mixture of emotion and geometry, together in a single instant.

The camera gave me an incredible freedom. It gave me the ability to parade through the world and look at people and things very, very closely.

A camera gives you a purpose.

But let's speak of art for a moment. Yes, art. I know a gentleman who makes excellent portraits. This gentleman is a camera.

Photography is not a sport. It has no rules. Everything must be dared and tried!

The camera is my tool. Through it I give a reason to everything around me.

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

I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.

I crave to be able to photograph the way a painter paints - in a loose, expressive way.

I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them.

I hate cameras. I hate cameras and I hate camera phones. The camera's my worst enemy and my best friend. It's the way I convey my emotions to the world without saying a word, so I use it. People always say, 'You come alive as soon as the camera's on!'

I love the luxury of the camera. The camera does so much for you. I like the secrets a camera can tell.

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.

I'm not an art director; I'm just not. I've always been somebody who has a sensibility that I hope is the same sensibility of others.

Photography suits the temper of this age - of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately.

Photography, for me, is something I can control fully. It's wholly my own expressions.

Everything I choose to photograph, I think is beautiful.

I believe that the medium of photography prevails entirely as an act of faith in the souls of those who love and practice it. And so every photograph becomes another subtle variation on the theme of the medium itself.