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Photography Quotes

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Photography Quotes

“To me it is no mystery that we can only photograph effectively what we are truly interested in or-maybe more importantly-are grappling with. Often unconsciously. Otherwise the photographs are merely about an idea or a concept-that stuff eventually falls flat for me-there must be something more, some emotional hook for it to really work for me.”

Ideas Fall Stuff Interest Consciousness Mystery Emotional Photography Conscious Concepts Photograph Flats Hook Effectiveness Grappling Flatness

Author:Todd Hido

“Some of my pictures are poem-like in the sense that they are very condensed, haiku-lik. There are others that, if they were poetry, would be more like Ezra Pound. There is a lot of information in most of my pictures, but not the kind of information you see in documentary photography. There is emotional information in my photographs.”

Ifs Kind Would Be Information Emotional Photography Photographer Photograph Pounds Documentaries Haiku Documentary Photography

Author:Sally Mann

“Essentially, in photography, I think on two levels: one emotional and the other technical. The emotional impact has to do with looking for something dramatic happening in the photograph, something that reaches out and touches somebody in some way. And the technical is having to do with composition and framing - light and dark, light and shadow.”

Thinking Way Two Light Dark Levels Emotional Photography Happenings Shadow Impact Photograph Dramatic Reach Out Composition Light And Dark Framing Light And Shadow

Author:Leonard Nimoy

“... a fact about photography: we can look at people's faces in photographs with an intensity and intimacy that in life we normally only reserve for extreme emotional states - for a first look at someone we may sleep with, or a last look at someone we love.”

People Firsts Looks May States Facts Lasts Faces Sleep Emotional Photography Photograph Extremes Intimacy Intensity Reserves

Author:Adam Gopnik

“Photographing is an emotional thing, a graceful thing. Photography allows me to wander with a purpose.”

Purpose Emotional Photography Wander Emotional Things

Book:This is the Day: The March on Washington

Source: This is the Day: The March on Washington

“I think I'm really fortunate to be an installation artist who is heavily invested in photography: I don't have the emotional problems with the loss of work that some installation artists have. The photographs wouldn't exist without the installation... but at the same time, I think I'd kill myself if I only did installations. There's something deeply tragic about doing work that you know is temporal.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Problem Artist Loss Emotional Photography Photograph Fortunate Tragic Installation Emotional Problems

Author:Sandy Skoglund

“I've never made any picture, good or bad, without paying for it in emotional turmoil.”

Made Emotional Photography Turmoil Emotional Turmoil

Author:W. Eugene Smith

“I think that emotional content is an image's most important element, regardless of the photographic technique. Much of the work I see these days lacks the emotional impact to draw a reaction from viewers, or remain in their hearts.”

Thinking Heart Important Emotional Elements Photography Draws Impact Technique Reactions These Days Viewers

Author:Anne Geddes

“At the root of creativity is an impulse to understand, to make sense of random and often unrelated details. For me, photography provides an intersection of time, space, light, and emotional stance. One needs to be still enough, observant enough, and aware enough to recognize the life of the materials, to be able to 'hear through the eyes'.”

Needs Art Stills Enough Light Eye Able Space Creativity Emotional Materials Photography Roots Photographer Details Impulse Make Sense Stance Through The Eyes Intersections Observant

Book:New England Days

Source: New England Days

“But I did not always know just what it was I wanted to photograph. I believe it is important for a photographer to discover this, for unless he finds what it is that excites him, what it is that calls forth at once an emotional response, he is unlikely to achieve his best work.”

Knows Believe Important Wanted I Believe Achieve Emotional Photography Response Photographer Photograph Unlikely Best Work Emotional Response

Book:Camera in London

Source: Camera in London

“The work I care about is terribly simple. I observe. I try to entertain. But above all I want my pictures to be emotional. Little else interests me in photography.”

Want Trying Littles Care Interest Simple Emotional Photography Photographer I Care

Author:Elliott Erwitt

“What is the subject matter of this apparently very personal world? It has been suggested that these shapes and images are underworld characters, the inhabitants of the vast common realm of memories that have gone down below the level of conscious control. It may be they are. The degree of emotional involvement and the amount of free association with the material being photographed would point in that direction.”

“For me, the creation of a photograph is experienced as a heightened emotional response, most akin to poetry and music, each image the culmination of a compelling impulse I cannot deny. Whether working with a human figure or a still life, I am deeply aware of my spiritual connection with it. In my life, as in my work, I am motivated by a great yearning for balance and harmony beyond the realm of human experience, reaching for the essence of oneness with the Universe.”