Vision, imagination and creativity – the most important tools in the photographer’s toolbox. Always has been, always will be. These tools are the reason why a photographer might be able to make an amazing image with the cheapest gear. The strongest photos come from what’s between our ears and in our hearts.
Since these elements make up the foundation of any artistic field, I thought it would be cool to put together some of my favorite quotes I’ve ever read on the topic. Enjoy.
Vision • Imagination • Creativity
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
~ Henry David Thoreau – Okay, not necessarily a photographer (that I know of), but I love the quote.
“John Loengard, the picture editor at Life, always used to tell me, ‘If you want something to look interesting, don’t light all of it.”
~ Joe McNally
“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
~ Ansel Adams
“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.”
~ Elliott Erwitt
“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
~ Dorothea Lange
“There is one thing the photo must contain – the humanity of the moment.”
~ Robert Frank
“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart, and head.”
~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.”
~ Edward Steichen
“A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.”
~ Annie Leibovitz
“If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it’s already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.”
~ Eve Arnold
I hope you enjoyed these quotes. I love reading things like this, especially from other photographers, or really any artists, that I really admire.
What are some of your favorite quotes?
Passion