Any good quotes by your fav photographer?

[kbg32]

Years ago I read an interview with a photographer, I forgot who it was. He was telling a story about being out photographing. As he was shooting he heard someone say, " Watch out with that thing. It can kill you". He put his camera down, turned around, and there was Robert Frank.

 

[bmattock]

Told by Gordon Coale here on RFF - unattributed. But I'd heard it msyelf once or twice. Wish I knew who said it originally:

An old time Speed Graphic user was bemoaning the rise of the little 35mm cameras. "When you hit someone with a Nikon, they go down but they just get right back up. When you hit them with a Speed Graphic, they stay down."

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Jason_K]

Told by Gordon Coale here on RFF - unattributed. But I'd heard it msyelf once or twice. Wish I knew who said it originally:
[/i]

Francis Miller of Life magazine said it originally.

You'll find that Speed Graphic quote mentioned in the audio slide show presentation on this NYT article about Daivd Burnett:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/technology/circuits/08schiesel.html

 

[Duncan Ross]

Didn't someone once say "f8 and be there"?

 

[thpook]

TAn old time Speed Graphic user was bemoaning the rise of the little 35mm cameras. "When you hit someone with a Nikon, they go down but they just get right back up. When you hit them with a Speed Graphic, they stay down."

This man has obviously never had to hit someone with a Nikon F4s, or god forbid an F4e.

 

[TPPhotog]

There are so many really good quotes, but the one I always remember when I'm somewhere I don't want to be is:

"No place is boring, if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film" - Robert Adams

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

" If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough". -Robert Capa

while i do love that quote i always temper it by remembering that capa died from stepping on a land mine.

joe

Yes, and I always remember that he still held his Contax IIa in his left hand after the blast, but his Nikon was several feet away. I almost feel that way about my Contax IIa, but I have no desire to step on a land mine to see if I would let go of the Contax.

Wayne

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

Didn't someone once say "f8 and be there"?

Yes, but if you are shooting large format the saying should be "f22 and be there 20 minutes early".

Wayne

 

[gns]

"There is nothing as mysterious as a fact cearly stated".

I think Winogrand said this. I'm not sure, but in my memory I always associate it with him.
Anyway, it's just a variation of the old "Fact is stranger than fiction".

It sums up a lot of what I like about photography.

 

[solane]

this NYT article about Daivd Burnett:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/technology/circuits/08schiesel.html

thanks for the link! great inspiration and i'm equally pleased to see that burnett lugs around a holga along with his 4x5 and his SLR. wow! awesome!

 

[canonetc]

Good Quotes Fav Photographer

Good Quotes Fav Photographer

I like the one Capa said th HCB: "Beware of labels. Soon you will become effete, a dilletante. They will call you the little surrealist photographer. Just call yourself a photojournalist, and keep the rest in your heart of hearts."

And, here are some quotes from not a photographer, must a master samurai named Miyamoto Musashi:

From The Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi

From the Ground Book

"If you practice day and night in the above Ichi school strategy, your spirit will naturally broaden…… This is recorded for the first time in the five books of Ground, Water, Fire, Tradition (Wind), and Void. This is the Way for those who want to learn my strategy:
· Do not think dishonestly.
· The Way is in training.
· Become aquainted with every art.
· Know the Ways of all professions.
· Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
· Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything.
· Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
· Pay attention even to trifles.
· Do nothing which is of no use.

The Gaze in Strategy

The gaze should be large and broad. This is the twofold gaze "Perception and Sight". Perception is strong and sight weak.

In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. It is important in strategy to know the enemy's sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword. You must study this. The gaze is the same for single combat and for large-scale combat.
It is necessary in strategy to be able to look to both sides without moving the eyeballs. You cannot master this ability quickly. Learn what is written here: use this gaze in everyday life and do not vary it whatever happens."

Change a few words, such as enemy to "subject", and strategy to "photography", and they are very applicable quotes.

cheers,

chris
canonetc

 

[Matthew]

Reviving this thread, I just reread this Henri Cartier Bresson quote (from 1998):

"In a world that is buckling under the weight of profit-making, that is overrun by the destructive sirens of Techno-science and the power-hunger of globalization--that new brand of slavery--beyond all that, Friendship exists, Love exists."

 

[zanydave]

How about "If at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you tried" By moi!

 

[Socke]

My father often said:
"If you want flash, take a Nikon. That's what they are made for."
and my grandfather:
"13x18 (cm) is a good format, you don't need to enlarge it and the negatives are easy to retouche, this movie film is just to much hassle to work with. If you want something more portable, take my 6x9 folder. "

 

[Biggles]

My local full-service photo store owner, recounting the lighter side of passport photography:

"Oh my god, look at my nose! You'll simply have to take it again!

"Madam, I'm a photographer, not a plastic surgeon!"

 

[kiev4a]

This man has obviously never had to hit someone with a Nikon F4s, or god forbid an F4e.

That's why I liked the old Honeywell strobes. They had a big flash head filled with four C-size batteries and a ribbed handle so you could get a good grip when swinging it🙂

 

[Bertram2]

"If I would know how to take good photographs I'd shoot good ones only "
Robert Doisneau

 

[GeneW]

"I always wanted to be a photographer. I was fascinated with the materials. But I never dreamed I would be having this much fun."
-- Lee Friedlander

 

[MrBuhl]

Not specifically a photographer - but I think it's related:

"There are pictures which obliterate mere human happenings... shining, alluring visions which sear our soul and wipe out all memory of sorrow and dissapointment"

A great photograph does this I think - it makes you think of the unqualified good for a minute in mute amazement.

Attributed (possibly abridged due to memory) from Hermann Buhl - the now deceased great Austrian Mountaineer.

 

[zpuskas]

I also like Garry Winogrand (though I sometimes wonder about his images). If I may correct a previous post:
"I photograph to see what things look like photographed."
And I also like this one, "There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described." Maybe this explains his work??