Eddie Adams
[Photojournalist, b. 1933, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, d. 2004, New York.]
To tell the truth, I didn’t get scared too often. The adrenalin rush was so strong, I didn’t get scared until it was over. The next night, the next month. Or just last week.
Chris Burden
[Artist, b. 1946, Boston, Massachusetts, d. 2015, Los Angeles.]
I will be shot with a rifle at 7:45 P.M. I hope to have some good photos.
Man Ray (Emanuel Radnitsky)
[Artist, b. 1890, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, d. 1976, Paris.]
If I’d had the nerve, I’d have become a thief or a gangster, but since I didn’t, I became a photographer.
Nan Goldin
[Photographer, b. 1953, Washington, D.C., lives in New York and Paris.]
Every time I go through something scary, traumatic, I survive by taking pictures.
Robert Adams
[Photographer and writer, b. 1937, Orange, New Jersey, lives in Astoria, Oregon.]
The operating principle that seems to work best is to go to the landscape that frightens you the most and take pictures until you’re not scared anymore.
(1982)
James Nachtwey
[Photographer, b. 1948, Syracuse, New York, lives in New York.]
You are never freer than in that moment when you decide to expose yourself to sniper fire.
Martha Rosler
[Artist, b. 1943, Brooklyn, New York, lives in New York.]
Documentary is a little like horror movies, putting a face on fear and transforming threat into fantasy, into imagery. One can handle imagery by leaving it behind.
(It is them, not us.)
Laurel Nakadate
[Video artist and photographer, b. 1975, Austin, Texas, lives in New York.]
I believe photography is about choosing to live, being brave. Looking is an act of courage. It’s terrifying. It’s possible to see too much, to witness things that we cannot hold.
