Photographic Creativity Quotes

PHOTOGRAPH, n. A picture painted by the sun without instruction in art. It is a little better than the work of an Apache, but not quite so good as that of a Cheyenne.

If the photographer is not a discoverer, then he is not an artist.

The business of making a photograph may be said in simple terms to consist of three elements: the objective world (whose permanent condition is change and disorder), the sheet of paper on which the picture will be realized, and the experience which brings them together.

I don't see the point of photographing trees or rocks because they're there and anyone can photograph them if they're prepared to hang around and wait for the light.

I learned working with the negatives could make for better pictures

If the photographer is to create works that will stand for his spirit in the same way as artists in other genres, he must first - having no ready-made, abstract components such as works and sounds - supply other means to abstraction instead.

The darkroom is just the means to an end.

I've grown up around people who love photography, and I think from being photographed for so long, I always wanted to understand how it worked, and I've been fortunate enough to be photographed by some really wonderful photographers, and so I learnt a lot from them, and I always ask them questions.

The digital camera has given me total freedom and a different way of filming.

Photographs trade simultaneously on the prestige of art and the magic of the real.

I never considered myself a good photographer. I still don't. I thought of myself as a hard worker. My camera was a sponge and I had an instinct that athletes have - anticipation. Photography really represents an enormous amount of anticipation - understanding what might be there the next moment and being prepared for it.

The ability to make a truly artistic photograph is not acquired off-hand, but is the result of an artistic instinct coupled with years of labor.

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.

I certainly never wanted to be a photographer to bore myself. It's no fun - life is too short.

I come from the school of thought that feels that if you can shoot film, you should shoot film.

No amount of toying with shades of print or with printing papers will transform a commonplace photograph into anything other than a commonplace photograph.