Alberto Korda
[Photographer, b. 1928, Havana, Cuba, d. 2001, Paris.]
Forget the camera, forget the lens, forget all of that. With any four-dollar camera, you can capture the best picture.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
[Photographer and painter, b. 1908, Chanteloup, France, d. 2004, Paris.]
The camera can be a machine gun, a warm kiss, a sketchbook. Shooting a camera is like saying, “Yes, yes, yes.” There is no “maybe.” All the “maybes” should go in the trash.
Chester Higgins
[Photographer, b. 1946, Lexington, Kentucky, lives in Brooklyn, New York.]
I learned that the camera never lies about the photographer.
Robert Frank
[Photographer and filmmaker, b. 1924, Zürich, Switzerland, lives in Mabou, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, and New York.]
When someone becomes aware of the camera, it becomes a different picture.
Roger Ballen
[Photographer, b. 1950, New York, lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.]
Nothing is staged. And nothing is already there. Everything is transformed through the camera.
Stephen Colbert
[Satirist and television host, b. 1964, Washington, D.C., lives in New York.]
Cameras are dangerous. With no waiting period or background check, any whack-job could just stroll into a Wal-Mart and walk out with a semi-automatic. Now, for years I’ve been pressing for stricter regulations on cameras, especially around our elected officials. Too many political lives have been cut short by some crazed shooter.
Richard Avedon
[Photographer, b. 1923, New York, d. 2004, San Antonio, Texas.]
I hate cameras. They interfere, they’re always in the way. I wish: if I could just work with my eyes alone. To get a satisfactory print, one that contains all that you intended, is very often more difficult and dangerous than the sitting itself. When I’m photographing, I immediately know when I’ve got the image I really want. But to get the image out of the camera and into the open, is another matter.
Lee Friedlander
[Photographer, b. 1934, Aberdeen, Washington, lives in New York.]
With a camera like that [a Leica 35mm rangefinder] you don’t believe you’re in the masterpiece business. It’s enough to be able to peck at the world.
