Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.

Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important.




Avoid making a commotion, just as you wouldn’t stir up the water before fishing. Don’t use a flash out of respect for the natural lighting, even when there isn’t any. If these rules aren’t followed, the photographer becomes unbearably obstrusive. ( "American Photo", September/October 1997, page: 76 )

Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes a precise moment in time. We play with subjects that disappear; and when they’re gone, it’s impossible to bring them back to life. We can’t alter our subject afterward.... Writers can reflect before they put words on paper.... As photographers, we don’t have the luxury of this reflective time....We can’t redo our shoot once we’re back at the hotel. Our job consists of observing reality with help of our camera (which serves as a kind of sketchbook), of fixing reality in a moment, but not manipulating it, neither during the shoot nor in the darkroom later on. These types of manipulation are always noticed by anyone with a good eye. - Henri Cartier-Bresson - "American Photo", September/October 1997, page: 76

-- Henri Cartier-Bresson

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.
-- Oscar Wilde

'To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, 'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.'
-- Ansel Adams

Light meters read; photographers interpret. -- Catherine Jo Morgan



A photographer is a witness. He has a moral duty. Every picture must be true and honest. I believe a photographer’s strength is his ability to accurately record reality. There are photographers who think they are lucky if they find unusual or special subject. But it is never the subject that is so marvelous. It is how alive and real the photographer can make it.
-- Edouard Boubat - from Photo by Boubat, a film for Swedish television directed by Rune Hassner [cited in: Creative Camera June 1972, p. 184]