Galen Rowell Quotes

I almost never set out to photograph a landscape, nor do I think of my camera as a means of recording a mountain or an animal unless I absolutely need a 'record shot'. My first thought is always of light.

It was not until I was in my forties, in the fifth decade of my life, that the sense of place, the spirit of place, became of paramount importance to me. It was then that I began my travels, that I discovered, through photography, the quality of light, and that I gradually became able to paint the mood of place.

I really like doing portraits, but I like taking pictures of things that are natural, like scenery, too.

What I end up shooting is the situation. I shoot the composition and my subject is going to help the composition or not.

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

I've never put myself in the mindset that I'm actually any good at taking pictures, I just love to shoot things that catch my eye, whether it's landscapes or just my kids.

Which is my best picture? The one I will do tomorrow.

I always start a painting with the sky.

I think a photograph, of whatever it might be - a landscape, a person - requires personal involvement. That means knowing your subject, not just snapping at what's in front of you.

Photography started as a means of getting reference material for my paintings of nature subjects.

I love the mountains, the light. I'm a real light junkie.

I was always interested in photography and other forms of art.

It had rained on some vivid green ferns in Maine and it was quite beautiful. I was moving the camera slightly and studying the ground glass. Looking at those 20 square inches, trying to find out just what were the right elements to include.

The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset.

Years ago - in the 70s, for about a decade - I carried a camera every place I went. And I shot a lot of pictures that were still life and landscape, using available light.

Having photographed the landscape for a number of years and specifically working with trees and in the forest I found, without consciously thinking about it, that it was a great learning experience for me in terms of organizing elements.

All I wanted was to connect my moods with those of Paris. Beauty paints and when it painted most, I shot.

I get to go to all these beautiful places, so it's nice being able to take pictures of it.

I told myself, 'When I grow up, I want to make pictures that can inspire and nourish people.' Immediately, when I was 10, I started photographing nature. I built a darkroom. My first really good darkroom, not just down in the cellar, was when I was 14.

If I go home from a day of shooting, and I haven't at some point felt the magic, I'm really frustrated.

Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.

And in fact I don't believe there is such a thing as a definitive picture of something. The land is a living, breathing thing and light changes its character every second of every day. That's why I love it so much.

We're trying to get good pictures. Don't worry very much about what I say.

To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis.

Visual ideas combined with technology combined with personal interpretation equals photography. Each must hold it's own; if it doesn't, the thing collapses.