Thoughts from Respected Photographers
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Hello all. If any of you produce content on a regular basis, you already know that doing so can be a challenge. For me, I want to produce content that is interesting, hopefully relevant and focused on the committed photographer. So for this one, I looked up some quotes from what the web calls famous photographers, and chose quotes from photographers whose work I respect AND enjoy.
The Quotes. And My Reactions
There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. - Ansel Adams
A photograph has to impact the viewer and is most successful when it causes some kind of emotional response. If you view and image and all you can say is nice exposure, it’s probably not a good photograph.
All the planning, intuition, technical prowess, and knowledge, as well as the trust and rapport you have (or haven’t) established, will show up in the picture, frozen forever. - Gregory Heisler
I have had the pleasure to attend portrait classes with Mr. Heisler. Who you are, or are not, comes out in your photography.
The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it! - Ansel Adams
Given that Mr. Adams tool of choice was a view camera, allow me to paraphrase to say that the important thing is not the camera at all, but the person making the photograph. No camera makes good photographs without a human. Ever.
Without vision, the photographer perishes. David du Chemin
No more needs be said here.
Sharpness is a bourgeois concept. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Relying on a technical aspect does not make a good photograph, it only reveals the ability to deliver on a technical concept, or the failure to do so. Cartier-Bresson defined “the decisive moment”. Many of his finest images are not tack sharp and that does not hurt them in any way whatsoever because of what they do emotionally.
For me, the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture. Diane Arbus
No photograph without a clearly understood subject will ever have any chance of being good.
Don’t pack up your camera until you’ve left the location. Joe McNally
Mr. McNally hammers this point home in his classes and workshops. No one will ever see or care about the image you did not make. More importantly, neither will you.
You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life. Joan Miro
I personally identify with this. I have seen thousands of photos, but I remember the great ones no matter how long ago I first saw them.
It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter. - Alfred Eisenstadt
A coffee table book called Witness to Our Time by Alfred Eisenstadt that I first looked at when I was five or six inspired me to become a photographer. While I am not outgoing, my favourites of my own work, involve people.
We don’t learn from our good images; we learn from the ones that can be improved on. Jen Rozenbaum
More truer words about the creative process have not been said.
Warning Will Robinson - Section Contains Strong Language
If harsh language offends you, skip to the next section please.
I have been a subscriber to stock photography for some time. As I will not be renewing my subscription, I have to use all my credits before the subscription ends or I will lose them even though I have already paid them. So to Adobe, F*ck Off, Eat Shit and Die.
While I was looking for images for this article I was stunned that the first several pages were not actual photographs but fake images created by Adobe’s Generative AI. No photographer got paid for his or her work, it’s just flotsam and jetsam, a nice way of saying floating shit. The images that you see were filtered to show me ONLY actual photographs taken by humans, so F*ck AI.
Wrapping Up
As I embarked on this exercise, I realized that I could go on for a very long time, but as an educator and writer, I understand that attention spans are increasingly reduced and TL:DR is now not just commonplace but an indication of the acceptance of lack of commitment.
Invest in yourself, and take the time to learn how you react to these quotations. They may help, or may not, but if you are committed to your craft, there is opportunity to learn in every one of them.
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