Some of your favorite quotes

[Tywais]

I thought this would be interesting and fun topic to do and that is putting your favorite or quotes you like from photographers. Can get a lot of insight in simple statements. I'll start off with one I just came across.

The Moment, Waiting for the Peak

"The famous French photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson said that every situation has its decisive moment; you watch as something builds, waiting for that peak. Applying that idea of a moment to your photography will really make you a more observant and connected image maker. And the more you work on that theory of moment, the more you’ll be able to watch how a situation builds to that peak, then descends after the image is made.

The waiting is the hardest part."

[FracturedRabbit]

98% of cameras are more capable than 98% of photographers.

[Tywais]

[MJP]

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.

- Robert Capa

[Tywais]

"I think everything can be painted because painting can change reality; but everything cannot be photographed and the photographer often comes home empty-handed, with images which (often) have a documentary interest, but which rarely go further than that. One has to be completely available, very tenacious and admit that many subjects won’t give any results… and a miracle sometimes happens, without warning.
Martine Franck"

[FracturedRabbit]

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."

Ansel Adams

Which rather calls into question all those books I bought....

[MJP]

One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and turn on. It’s on all the time.

- Annie Leibovitz

You know, I constantly see in frames these days even though I can't find my glasses.

[Tywais]

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

-Elliot Erwitt

This photo forum and others I am a member of, and my studies, have been guiding me there little by little. I find myself looking at so many things with a different vision and perspective than before. I look at things now and think, what can make that more interesting.

[MJP]

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

- George Eastman

I remember in one of our gearhead threads, a professional tog popped up and said something like, "I used to be into gear but all I ask myself now is, is there enough light?"

[sunshine51]

"click...bzzzzz. Click...bzzzzz. Click...bzzzzz...Click...bz...Dam_n batteries flat."

FotoGordo not long after the F2AS was introduced

[MJP]

Here's a favorite photographer quote:

Ok, I just read your first sentence and didn't see the 2nd one so went off in a huff to look up cross comparisons between the two. 40 minutes later I'm back and saw your 2nd comment.

- Tywais

[sunshine51]

"Remember that the person you are photographing is 50% of the portrait and you are the other 50%.

You need the model as much as he or she needs you. If they don’t want to help you, it will be a very

dull picture." – Lord Patrick Lichfield

[sunshine51]

"There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must

see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with

intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative.

Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever." – Henri Cartier-Bresson

[sunshine51]

“The only photographer you should compare yourself to is the one you used to be.” - Unknown

[WitawatWatawit]

Taking good pictures requires no mystical skill - any more than Samuel Pepys needed superhuman strength and insight to help him hand on to us a convincing picture of his times. It is, quite simply, everybody's right to be able to handle a camera - whether they do so for the delight of showing their grandchildren what was going on fifty years earlier, or whether they seek the warm winter glow of memories of summer holidays on an island in Greece, or the recollection of a friend from years ago.

George Hughes, in "Begin with Bailey" (published 1983).

[sunshine51]

My personal favourite...

"The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street."
Robert Doisneau

[sunshine51]

"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are."
Ernst Haas

[sunshine51]

"Buying a Nikon or a Canon doesn’t make you a photographer, it just makes you a camera owner."
ragman

[sunshine51]

“Photography must ask the great questions of life, which ultimately does not include, ‘Which camera did you use?"

Brooke Jensen

[MJP]

“Photography must ask the great questions of life, which ultimately does not include, ‘Which camera did you use?"

Brooke Jensen

It's handy to know which lens though and the EXIF data. Makes it easier to learn.

[sunshine51]

“Saint Peter was guarding the gate to Heaven, and a line was forming. The first introduced himself as a devout man of
God who had lived a life of self-sacrificing service. ‘Fine,’ said Saint Peter.’ Take the 34A bus to the other side
of the tracks, walk two miles into the slums and you will find a hovel that is your new home.’

The next was a nun who had ministered to the wretched and dispossessed in the most troubled war-torn areas of the
world. ‘Welcome,’ said Saint Peter. ‘You take the train, the two changes on the subway and you will come to a fifth
floor walkup with no heating or bathroom.’

The next in line was a bishop who had devoted himself to the dogma and ritual of the church without distraction all
his life. ‘For you, we have a special place,’ said Saint Peter. ‘You will have to walk ten miles with all your
possessions and build your own shack in the woods.’

Next was a shabby looking rogue. When Saint Peter say him, his eyes lit up and he embraced him warmly. ‘A chauffeur-
driven limo awaits you,’ said Saint Peter. ‘It will take you to your mansion equipped with every imaginable delight.’

The Bishop overheard this greeting and remonstrated with Saint Peter. ‘But I and the others have been devoted
servants of God and we are given the poorest accommodations. Why does this outcast deserve the best?’

‘Ah,’ said Saint Peter, ‘he’s very special. You see, he’s a photographer and we rarely get one of those up here."

Ansel Adams

[FracturedRabbit]

"Buying a Nikon or a Canon doesn’t make you a photographer, it just makes you a camera owner."

ragman

Happy to see that this is brand specific...

[sunshine51]

“Photography must ask the great questions of life, which ultimately does not include, ‘Which camera did you use?"

Brooke Jensen

It's handy to know which lens though and the EXIF data. Makes it easier to learn.

Ahhhhhh.....not really.

Back in my early days I used to have a small notebook & pencil

to jot down the particulars of every shot I had taken after I had

taken it. Then one really cold winters day in Japan (read F--in

Freezing) I came to the startling realisation that I was spending

more time jotting than clicking & missing many shots. The

notebook & pencil remained with me in case I met a cutie however

as far as notes went...I went with my gut feelings and the depth of

field preview button...they've never let me down.

Edited January 7, 2014 by sunshine51

[sunshine51]

My own....since I'm still breathing air it's just a statement I guess...

Photography is a journey. It is not about arrival at a particular

destination, it is all about getting there. The highs & lows &

obliques of the travel all make for interesting moments. Once

one has arrived at that destination what awaits? 360 degrees

worth of more journeys is what awaits.

[MJP]

Here's mine:

"F-me, how <deleted> much?"

[sunshine51]

"The camera is nothing more than a recording device; that's all it will ever be.

The eye's, mind and heart of the recording device operator is where the magic

happens." __ Me...circa 1980 something when giving a talk at the FCCT concerning

Khmer Refugee camps

[phuketrichard]

“I photograph to find out how something will look photographed.” Garry Winogrand

[Ace of Pop]

Bill Bryson. Cameras are made for Folks with bad memories.

[klauskunkel]

"I'm confused." - me, after reading the manual