Today is World Photography Day, a day when photographers and photography enthusiasts from all over the world celebrate the art, the passion, the means of expression that ties them all together. On this day I’m looking at the greats — the pioneers, some of the world’s best photographers — and sharing what they had to say about photography as well as some of my favourites from their works.
“If you are truly successful in capturing the pulse of life, then you can speak of a good photograph.”
— René Burri
“I would look at my contact sheets and my heart would be beating, you know. To see if I’d caught what I wanted. Sometimes, I’d take shots without aiming, just to see what happened. I’d rush into crowds – bang! Bang! I liked the idea of luck and taking a chance… and suddenly you know the moment is yours.”
— William Klein
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”
— Ansel Adams
“If your pictures aren’t good enough you’re not close enough.”
— Robert Capa
“Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.”
— David Alan Harvey
“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”
— Marc Riboud
“The eye should learn to listen before it looks.”
— Robert Frank
“When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.”
— Alfred Eisenstaedt
“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.”
— Imogen Cunningham
“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.”
— Irving Penn
There are many other great photographers with truly inspirational work and photography quotes, so I’ll probably have another article or two after this one. If you want to suggest who I should include next, let me know in a comment below. Happy World Photography Day!