André Kertész
[Photographer, b. 1894, Budapest, Hungary, d. 1985, New York.]
I am an amateur and I intend to stay that way for the rest of my life.
(1930) 
I do not document anything. I give an interpretation.
Have confidence in the inventions and transformations of chance.
I am not a surrealist. I am only a realist. All this group—surrealists—use my name. No, no, I am realist.
You do not have to imagine things; reality gives you all you need.
I am always saying that the best photographs are those I never took.
Look, if you want to learn how to write, you study the alphabet and exercise every day. And in the end you have a very beautiful alphabet. But what are you expressing with the alphabet? Perfect technique but expressing nothing. This is what I call “calligraphic photographs á l’americaine.”
A photograph draws its beauty from the truth with which it is marked. For this very reason I refuse all the tricks of the trade and professional virtuosity which could make me betray my canon. As soon as I find a subject which interests me, I leave it to the lens to record truthfully.
