Category: Quotes

Quotes from famous photographers

Inspiring Quotes – Jim Brandenburg

Like Thoreau, who had gone to the woods because he “wished to live deliberately, to front only essential facts of life” and to “transact some private business with the fewest obstacles,” I embraced this endeavor, with some trepidation, to see if I could find what had drawn me so long ago to my art, and to see if I had become as perceptive of nature as I hoped.  “To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself,” wrote Thoreau.

Nature cannot be twisted to our whims, not even for the purpose of capturing her beauty on film.  She must be approached on a level at once aware of both her charms and her harshness.  Hers is not a world solely of “calendar” scenes,,, but one also of mystery and hardness, built of the timeless recycling of energy as creatures and plants die and are reborn.  Thoreau’s “sunrise” is the calendar photograph that comprises what for some is their sole understanding of nature.  My hope was that I would be able to cajole from her something deeper.

{Written as the introduction to Jim’s wonderful book “Chased by the Light” in which he undertakes to expose one frame of file a day for 90 consecutive days from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice in the north woods of Minnesota.  To see the photograph referenced by ‘Thoreau’s “Sunrise”‘ go to Day 10 – Boundary Waters Loons.}

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Inspiring Quotes – David Hurn

A unique style,… is the by-product of visual exploration, not its goal.  Personal vision comes only from not aiming at it.  Over a long period of time and through many, many images, the self re-emerges with even greater strength than if it were the end-product.  Ironically, by starting with self, it is missed; ignore it, and it becomes evident.

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Inspiring Quotes – Yousef Khanfar #2

Studying the master painters has taught me a lot about light and making a sculpture taught me a lot about the power of the message: the more I take away from the block, the more I’m adding.  To me, a body of work is like the human body.  It has three elements that I believe to be most essential.  First, it should have very strong bones – able to stand on its own.  Second, it should have a distinct and clear voice in order to communicate impeccably.  That voice should be able to create the intellectual connection and emotional depth necessary within peoples’ hears, minds and souls.  Third, it should have a strong heart to pump blood all the way to one’s fingertips – to pump life all the way to the corners of one’s art.

To see more of Yousef Khanfar’s photographs, visit www.yousefkhanfar.com.

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Inspiring Quotes – Yousef Khanfar

Photographers must be intoxicated with their subject and dive into its universe.  That’s the only way the viewer will be able to see and feel the work.  When you believe strongly in something, you stop creating art and start releasing art.  It’s all about the will, not only the skill.

See more of Yousef Khanfar’s photography at www.yousefkhanfar.com.

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