Marc Riboud
[Photographer, b. 1923, St.-Genis-Laval, France, d. 2016, Paris.]
Chim told me not to follow too closely the advice of Capa, and Capa told me not to take any notice of Henri’s advice. So I was a bit mixed up and went to see George Rodger… and he said, “Don’t listen to any of them, only to me.”
(On joining the Magnum photo agency in 1953) 
My obsession is with photographing life at its most intense as intensely as possible. It’s a mania, a virus as strong as my instinct to be free.
Rather than a profession, photography has always been a passion for me, a passion closer to an obsession.
If taste for life diminishes, the photographs pale, because taking pictures is like savoring life at 125th of a second.
My vision of the world is simple. Tomorrow, each new day, I want to see the city, take new photographs, meet people and wander alone.
Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.
Doubt always hovers nearby, but I take photographs the way a musician hums. Looking is like breathing. So when luck turns my way and offers me a good picture, joy is surely nigh.
Instinctively, I feel that good photographs come from being surprised.
