Walker Evans
[Photographer, b. 1903, St. Louis, Missouri, d. 1975, New Haven, Connecticut.]
The blind are not totally blind. Reality is not totally real.
Joel Meyerowitz
[Photographer, b. 1938, New York, lives in New York.]
Arriving at the rim of this famous landmark, they shuffle about, searching for a sign that says “shoot here.” With one pre-set image labeled GRAND CANYON in their minds, blinding them to what lies below, they search for the one and only “right” spot to stand.
Josef Koudelka
[Photographer, b. 1938, Biskovice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia, lives in Paris.]
I never stay in one country more than three months. Why? Because I was interested in seeing, and if I stay longer I become blind.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
[Poet, novelist, playwright, and natural philosopher, b. 1749, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, d. 1832, Weimar, Germany.]
The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.
(Maxim often quoted by Albert Renger-Patzsch.)
Anaïs Nin
[Writer, b. 1903, Neuilly, France, d. 1977, Los Angeles.]
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Theodore Roethke
[Poet, b. 1908, Saginaw, Michigan, d. 1963, Bainbridge Island, Washington.]
I wish I could find an event that meant as much as simple seeing.
Diane Arbus
[Photographer, b. 1923, New York, d. 1971, New York.]
I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.
Penelope Umbrico
[Photographer, b. 1957, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, lives in New York.]
I have always been more interested in how we as a culture see things than how I see in particular.
