12 More Photography Quotes You Should Know

Our previous article was really popular and one of the things that happened as a result of it was that readers went on to suggest a whole lot of other photography quotes that they thought were knowing.

Here’s a compilation of some of the best of those quotes that were submitted by readers (listed in no particular order):

1. “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” – Peter Lindbergh (submitted by Brian)
2. “The important thing is not the camera but the eye.” – Alfred Eisenstaedt (submitted by Beate)
3. “There are two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer” – Ansel Adams (submitted by Scott)
4. “To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms that give that event its proper expression.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson (submitted by Kelly Anne)
5. “I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.” – Anonymous (submitted by Mei Teng)
6. “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” – Robert Cappa (submitted by Eddy) (note: as Matt pointed out in comments, Robert Cappa sadly died from stepping on a land mine ‘It is possible to get too close!’
7. “A lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera they’ll be able to take better photographs. A better camera won’t do a thing for you if you don’t have anything in your head or in your heart.” -Arnold Newman (submitted by Matt Needham)
8. “Pictures, regardless of how they are created and recreated, are intended to be looked at. This brings to the forefront not the technology of imaging, which of course is important, but rather what we might call the eyenology (seeing).” -Henri Cartier-Bresson (submitted by Matt Needham)
9. “The word ‘art’ is very slippery. It really has no importance in relation to one’s work. I work for the pleasure, for the pleasure of the work, and everything else is a matter for the critics.” -Manuel Alvarez Bravo (submitted by Matt Needham)
10. “People say photographs don’t lie, mine do.” -David LaChapelle (submitted by Matt Needham)
11. “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” – Ansel Adams (submitted by raisingladders)
12. “You cannot depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus” – Mark Twain (submitted by dannyboy)