Georges Méliès
[Filmmaker and magician, b. 1861, Paris, d. 1938, Paris.]
I must say, to my great regret, the cheapest tricks have the greatest impact.
Rainer Maria Rilke
[Writer and poet, b. 1875, Prague, d. 1926, Montreux, Switzerland.]
Oh quickly disappearing photograph
in my more slowly disappearing hand.
Sylvia Plachy
[Photographer, b. 1943, Budapest, Hungary, lives in New York.]
As a relentless gatherer of moments, I find that my favorite images, although grounded in the present, are like spirits shaped by memories. They whisper of fairy tales, poetry, and other lives, as each gesture connects with another and raises yet another from the dead. Shadows flicker on film to an inner melody as I navigate, camera at hand and at the speed of light, through unimaginable worlds—desperately trying to make sense of the joy and suffering before it all disappears.
Lord Snowdon (Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones)
[Earl and photographer, b. 1930, London, England, d. 2017, London.]
If there is a good thing about photography, it is that it can be easily enjoyed.
Mario Giacomelli
[Photographer, b. 1925, Senigallia, Italy, d. 2000, Senigallia.]
[My mother] died a few months ago, and when she was dead I kissed her lips. For me it was a beautiful moment. From then on I started living with her, asking her from time to time if she was alright, if she was pleased with me. But these things are far greater than photography, and I probably shouldn’t be speaking about them.
John Sexton
[Photographer, b. 1953, Maywood, California, lives in California.]
To convey in the print the feeling you experienced when you exposed your film—to walk out of the darkroom and say: “This is it, the equivalent of what I saw and felt!” That’s what it’s all about.
Edouard Boubat
[Photographer, b. 1923, Paris, France, d. 1999, Paris.]
Sometimes I envy painters, it is wonderful to remain in front of a bouquet of flowers a whole morning, or even longer. A photographer is like a cloud, pushed all around, always dependent on the exterior world. That’s what I sometimes feel as a pain and an error.
Ed Ruscha
[Artist, b. 1937, Omaha, Nebraska, lives in Los Angeles.]
I believe in intuition and approaching things as instant gratification. Just do the things you want to do, make the kind of pictures you want to make.
