The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy, chancy and temperamental; it rejects the read more

The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy, chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because read more

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary.

Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable read more

Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it my be.

If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, read more

If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this.

Blessed be the inventor of photography! It has given more positive pleasure to poor suffering humanity than anything else that read more

Blessed be the inventor of photography! It has given more positive pleasure to poor suffering humanity than anything else that has "cast up" in my time -- this art by which even the "poor" can possess themselves of tolerable of their absent dear ones.

The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

The Equipment you'll leave at home, you'll need the most. You're always out of film when you'll have the best read more

The Equipment you'll leave at home, you'll need the most. You're always out of film when you'll have the best opportunity.

Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but read more

Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.

I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do -- that was one of my favorite things about read more

I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do -- that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.