Philip Jones Griffiths
[Photojournalist, b. 1936, Rhuddian, Wales, d. 2008, London.]
When Bill Gates started Corbis we were told that he needed images to fill those “digital picture frames” in his home, and many found this plausible. But now it’s pretty clear that he’s set out to control the visual history of the twentieth century.
Brigitte Lacombe
[Photographer, b. 1950, Paris, France, lives in New York.]
I take pictures all the time. It’s alarming, really. I mean, I wish I could stop! I take snaps of everything, like taking notes. It became a way to look at the world.
George Rodger
[Photojournalist, b. 1908, Hale, Cheshire, England, d. 1995, Smarden, Kent, England.]
When I discovered that I could look at the horror of Belsen—4,000 dead and starving lying around—and think only of a nice photographic composition, I knew something had happened to me and it had to stop.
Taryn Simon
[Photographer, b. 1975, New York, lives in New York.]
Photography’s ability to blur truth and fiction is one of its most compelling qualities. But when misused... this ambiguity can have severe, even lethal consequences.... Photography’s ambiguity, beautiful in one context, can be devastating in another.
Ron Galella
[Photographer, b. 1931, Bronx, New York, lives in New York.]
I got in my car and followed [Marlon Brando] down to Chinatown, and got about twelve shots. Brando called me over and said, “What else do you want that you don’t have already?” And I said, “I’d like a picture without the sunglasses.” He said no and punched me right in the jaw, It was so fast I didn’t see it coming. Blood was gushing out of my mouth. I drove to Bellevue. The jawbone and five teeth were broken... To this day he has scars on his knuckles from my teeth.
David Douglas Duncan
[Photojournalist, b. 1916, Kansas City, Missouri, lives in Mougins, France.]
I never felt in competition with anybody in war photography. You’re lucky to get your ass in and out again. It’s as simple as that. It’s the easiest photography in the world to shoot somebody who’s been shot up. It doesn’t take a genius. That’s easy. The only thing you need to know is your photography. Get in and if you’re lucky get out. And get as close as you can get.
Jorge Luis Borges
[Writer, poet, and librarian, b. 1899, Buenos Aires, Argentina, d. 1986, Geneva, Switzerland.]
Image is sorcery.
Luigi Ghirri
[Photographer, b. 1943, Scandiano, Italy, d. 1992, Reggio Emilia, Italy.]
…the only journey now possible seems to be the one found inside signs and images—in a destruction of direct experience.
