Photography quotes from famous photographers can be so powerful that they become mantras for generations of future photographers. Whether it is excellent wordsmithing, motivational psychology, or a measure of self-selection, people tend to feel inspired by motivational quotes. They may even influence our styles as photographers. Here are 20 of my favorite famous photography quotes.
"There are no rules for good photographs; there are only good photographs."
Ansel Adams
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
Dorothea Lange
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst."
Henri Cartier-Bresson
"A photographer must possess and retain the receptive faculties of a child who watches the world for the first time."
Bill Brandt
"If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough."
Robert Capa
"I don't trust words. I trust pictures."
Gilles Peress
"Photography is truth."
Jean-Luc Godard
"Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future."
Sally Mann
"A good photograph is knowing where to stand."
Ansel Adams
"In photography, there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality."
Alfred Stieglitz
"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people."
Annie Leibovitz
I personally love this photography quote by Andy Warhol
"The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do."
Andy Warhol
"I never have taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse."
Diane Arbus
"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
"If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff."
Jim Richardson
"Don't pack up your camera until you've left the location."
Joe McNally
"Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lenses of the camera."
Yousuf Karsh
"My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport."
Steve McCurry
"Great photography is about the depth of feeling, not the depth of field."
Peter Adams
"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow."
Imogen Cunningham
"Photography, for me, is not looking; it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures."
Don McCullin
"In photography, you've got to be quick, quick, quick, quick. Like an animal and prey."
Henri Cartier-Bresson
