Photography Quotes

“I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know. It takes no great powers or magic to reproduce somebody's face in a photograph. The magic is in seeing people in new ways.” Duane Michals

I like this quote because I understand what this person means. It's fun to see photographs from a different perspective and maybe done with different settings so that the photo is more interesting. I like seeing normal photos that capture a scene or the beauty of a face, but when a photographer takes the time to spruce the photo up by adding their own style to it, I love it more.

“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” ~Ansel Adams

I find this quote funny, and I think I disagree with it. Landscape photography is a great subject for many photographers to take on, and it's definitely a challenge however I don't think there is that many failures in trying to take the photos. I'm an extreme beginner photographer so I know the struggle of trying to capture a piece that says something about you that others will find beautiful and will like. I think photography is an art that can be seen the way art is seen, meaning that the idea of something being beautiful or being good art is open to interpretation. Some people may find the photos not very good while someone else may find them wonderful. I think it's this that makes art more interesting as a whole and make everyone feel like they can be accepted in the art world.

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott

I believe this quote to be true on both a literal and figurative level. Once a photograph is taken it becomes a memory that is often looked at to remember the past. It freezes a subject in time and when you look at it again, you feel almost the same emotions that you felt about the scene originally. Although time changes and the actual subject changes over time, the photograph will be one of the only things remembering it how it was.