“The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated in quotations”. – Benjamin Disraeli

I think as photographers we all look to the masters for knowledge and wisdom. I at least am greatly influenced by the work of others. As a young photographer I would read everything I could get my hands on written by the photographers I admired. Years ago I started a journal in which I keep photographic quotes and words of wisdom from my photographic influences. My journal has come in very handy when I have to make the visual verbal writing artist statements for my photography shows. Citing your influences in an artist statement helps your viewers, and readers, see where your work is coming from.

Yesterday I came across a collection of 10 quotes from photographers at the Digital Photography School site. I’ll re-post them below.

1. “ You don’t take a photograph, you make it. – Ansel Adams
2. “ Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. – Henri Cartier-Bresson
3. “ Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. – Matt Hardy
4. “ Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment. – Elliott Erwitt
5. “ Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow. – Imogen Cunningham
6. “ You’ve got to push yourself harder. You’ve got to start looking for pictures nobody else could take. You’ve got to take the tools you have and probe deeper. – William Albert Allard
7. “ If I saw something in my viewfinder that looked familiar to me, I would do something to shake it up. – Garry Winogrand
8. “ I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good. – Anonymous
9. “ Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. – Ansel Adams
10. “It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get. – Timothy Allen – On editing photo

Do you have any photography quotes that you like? Please share them with me by adding them in the comments to this post.

Here is a great resource for photographic quotes to start building your collection.
PhotographicQuotes.com