Cup of Joe Photo

Richard Avedon

I found this quote - by the master Richard Avedon- to be curious indeed. Can you relate?

I hate cameras. They interfere, they’re always in the way. I wish: if I could just work with my eyes alone. To get a satisfactory print, one that contains all that you intended, is very often more difficult and dangerous than the sitting itself. When I’m photographing, I immediately know when I’ve got the image I really want. But to get the image out of the camera and into the open, is another matter. - Richard Avedon

Diane Arbus

I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do -- that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse. - Diane Arbus

For those of you who have not yet seen FUR, check it out.

Alfred Eisenstaedt

It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.

- Alfred Eisenstaedt

This statement obviously applies to photographers who work with or around people. You nature photographers don't really need to worry about this one:)

Alfred Stieglitz

Sometimes I like to ponder the words of the Masters that have gone before me. I found this quote curious and I'm not certain of it's meaning yet. Perhaps you have an opinion to offer? I'd like to hear it.

In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality. - Alfred Stieglitz

Are you inspired?

I'd like to know if you feel inspired. I'm fascinated with the concept of inspiration and have indulged myself for years in activities that nourish my creativity. Enlighten me to your process, habits or peculiarities. I look forward to your comments.

Photographic technique is no secret and – provided the interest is there – easily assimilated. But inspiration comes from the soul and when the Muse isn’t around even the best exposure meter is very little help. In their biographies, artists like Michelangelo, da Vinci and Bach said that their most valuable technique was their ability to inspire themselves. This is true of all artists; the moment there is something to say, there becomes a way to say it. -Ralph Gibson, from his book Déjà vu [cited in: Creative Camera December 1972, p. 401]

Raymond Depardon

I don't regret the numerous pictures of Brigitte Bardot, but I'd rather have a good photograph of my father. -Raymond Depardon

This quote struck me as very important wisdom indeed.

Edward Weston

Very often people looking at my pictures say, 'You must have had to wait a long time to get that cloud just right (or that shadow, or the light).' As a matter of fact, I almost never wait, that is, unless I can see that the thing will be right in a few minutes. But if I must wait an hour for the shadow to move, or the light to change, or the cow to graze in the other direction, then I put up my camera and go on, knowing that I am likely to find three subjects just as good in the same hour. -Edward Weston

Matthew Brady

A spirit in my feet said 'go', and I went. -Matthew Brady, on why he photographed the Civil War.

Sometimes, making a decision to photograph a person or event can be this simple. Even when it's an incredibly complex and dangerous event such as war. Are we not all indebted to Mathew that he followed his impulse. How are you cheating yourself (and the world) when you refuse to follow your impulse to photograph? Practice following your impulses. Start today and make it a habit.

Barbara Morgan

Light is the shape and play of my thought.... my reason for being a photographer. -Barbara Morgan

Diane Arbus

Some pictures are tentative forays without your even knowing it. They become methods. It's important to take bad pictures. It's the bad ones that have to do with what you've never done before. They can make you recognize something you hadn't seen in a way that will make you recognize it when you see it again. -Diane Arbus

Check out the movie Fur for more on Diane Arbus