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.

The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the read more

The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.

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.

If photography were difficult in the true sense . . . that the creation of a simple photograph would entail read more

If photography were difficult in the true sense . . . that the creation of a simple photograph would entail as much time and effort as the production of a good watercolor or etching -- there would be a vast improvement in total output.

Many pictures turn out to be limp translations of the known world instead of vital objects which create an intrinsic read more

Many pictures turn out to be limp translations of the known world instead of vital objects which create an intrinsic world of their own. There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph.

You know what a camera is? A mirror with memory.

You know what a camera is? A mirror with memory.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.

I love the medium of photography, for with its unique realism it gives me the power to go beyond conventional read more

I love the medium of photography, for with its unique realism it gives me the power to go beyond conventional ways of seeing and understanding and say, "This is real, too."

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.