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.
W. Eugene Smith
[Photographer, b. 1918, Wichita, Kansas, d. 1978, Tucson, Arizona.]
In printing the photographs of the white-gowned Klan members I ran into considerable difficulty. There were several with uncovered faces and these faces were vividly dark in comparison to the white-white of the gowns that it was almost impossible to keep them from appearing black. I am terribly sorry.
(Apology to his editor about images from his 1951 photo essay on the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina.)
Norman Parkinson
[Photographer, b. 1913, London, d. 1990, Singapore.]
I like there to be a joke in practically every photo I take. Nobody has the right to make photography boring.
Bill Jay
[Photographer, writer, and curator, b. 1940, Maidenhead, England, d. 2009, Samara, Costa Rica.]
Photoshop makes it easier to do all the things you didn’t need to do before Photoshop.
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
[Writer, b. 1835, Hannibal, Missouri, d. 1910, Redding, Connecticut.]
My dear Sir, I thank you very much for your letter and your photograph. In my opinion you are more like me than any other of my numerous doubles. I may even say that you resemble me more closely than I do myself. In fact, I intend to use your picture to shave by. Yours thankfully, S. Clemens.
(Reply to a man who sent him a photograph and claimed to be his double.)
Tallulah Bankhead
[Actress, b. 1902, Huntsville, Alabama, d. 1968, New York.]
They used to photograph Shirley Temple through gauze. They should photograph me through linoleum.
Lee Friedlander
[Photographer, b. 1934, Aberdeen, Washington, lives in New York.]
At first, my presence in my photos was fascinating and disturbing. But as time passed and I was more a part of other ideas in my photos, I was able to add a giggle to those feelings.
Allan Sekula
[Photographer, writer, and theorist, b. 1951, Erie, Pennsylvania, d. 2013, Los Angeles.]
Nothing could be more natural than... a man pulling a snapshot from his wallet and saying, “This is my dog.”
