Cup of Joe Photo

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

Irving Penn

A good photograph is one that communicate a fact, touches the heart, leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective. -Irving Penn

Mason Resnick

If you want to sharpen your skills as a photographer, try takin' it to the streets. Magic happens.

Shoot a lot of pictures. Experiment. Don’t go out with preconceptions of what a picture will look like. That will block you from being receptive to something new and exciting. -Mason Resnick, To the question: "What advice would you give someone who is interested in trying street photography?"

Mason Resnick

Mason Resnick

Beaumont Newhall

It seems that retouching has been controversial for a long time. I had no idea.

Retouching had become controversial ever since Franz Hanfstaengl of Munich showed at the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris a retouched negative with a print made from it before and after retouching. It was, Nadar recollected, the beginning of a new era in photography. -Beaumont Newhall, "History of Photography " by Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, ISBN: 0870703811

Beaumont Newhall was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1908 and studied art history at Harvard University. One of the most prominent historians of photography as well as an artist in his own right, Newhall made significant contributions to the field. The founding director of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, he also served as the curator and director of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York during the formative years of that institution. The author of a great many books, exhibition catalogues, and articles on photography, Newhall also published several editions of the classic text The History of Photography. Newhall was honored by institutions such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Royal Photographic Society, and the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He died in 1993.

David LaChapelle

My work is about making candy for the eyes. It’s about grabbing your attention. Even though my work is appearing in magazines I am trying to make a large picture. I want my photographs to read like a poster. -David LaChapelle

I admire the fact that David's images are both unique and consistent. You know when you see one of his images. Check out his work here.

Greg Gorman

For me a photograph is most successful when it doesn't answer all the questions and it leaves something to be desired. I like each picture that I take to be a testament to the individual character of my subject. -Greg Gorman

Check out Greg's website here.

Arnold Newman

I think photography is a matter of controlling what’s in front of you and making it do your will. This, of course, implies absolute mastery over camera, medium, techniques, and the ability to work with the subject and get him willingly and happily without any self-conscious feeling to fall into those things which are natural to him. This is a very complicated thing to do in portraiture. Mine are deliberately self-conscious portraits and therefore contain no forced feeling of candidness… the subject is unaware of the fact that I am waiting – things begin to happen – the man begins to reveal himself.” “If the background becomes overwhelming and you lose the personality, then I have not made a good portrait and it is not a good picture. I think the world is full of intelligent people who are not really trying to be flattered; what they really want is to be understood”. “The more I get to know my subject the more he gets to know me, and so often the pictures taken at the end of a sitting are much better both creatively and interpretively… A photographer is always in a state of preparing himself for a given moment… we have only an instant in which to think and act. -Arnold Newman

Check out Arnold's work at PDNonline

Margaret Bourke-White

The very secret of life for me...was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquillity. I had picked a life that dealt with excitement, tragedy, mass calamities, human triumphs and suffering. To throw my whole self into recording and attempting to understand these things, I needed an inner serenity as a kind of balance. -The very secret of life for me...was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquillity. I had picked a life that dealt with excitement, tragedy, mass calamities, human triumphs and suffering. To throw my whole self into recording and attempting to understand these things, I needed an inner serenity as a kind of balance. -Margaret Bourke-White

Portrait of Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret photographed Gandhi in 1946

Alfred Stieglitz

It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes 'art' in time.
-Alfred Stieglitz

Get the dvd at Amazon. Have a great weekend!

Ernst Haas

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are. -Ernst Haas

ERNST HAAS - PARIS, VIEW FROM NOTRE DAME

ERNST HAAS - THE CROSS, NEW YORK

Celebrate the Masters around Us!

Robert Mapplethorpe

You're never going to get anywhere in life if you don't live up to your obligations. -Robert Mapplethorpe

Love him or hate him, he has an important point here. His comment reminds me of the "The Four Agreements". Two of the agreements are to "be impeccable with your word" and "always do your best". If you do what you promise to do and always do you best, you will go far in life and especially with those closest to you. These practices are making huge changes in my personal life. The journey is exciting, practice living up to your obligations.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis. Henri Cartier-Bresson

This is a movie that should not be missed! Enjoy every moment.

Hard Work

Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work. It's hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be. -Edward Weston

EDWARD WESTON

Even after the most mentally and physically challenging wedding, professional photography certainly beats digging ditches. I am blessed to work hard in a profession that is also so pleasurable. I laugh when people who think I only work on Saturdays ask me what I do during the week. (I go to Disneyland, of course...)

Ansel Adams

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. - Ansel Adams

Ansel had a way with words. I enjoy this amusing statement because I often find myself making "little tweaks" in the relationship of light to dark in my photographs. One thing is for sure, I thank God everyday for Photoshop....can I get an Amen?

Ansel Adams

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. -Ansel Adams

Good morning friends! I have been truly overwhelmed at the generous response of all of your kind words, comments and emails. Your words have been clear and I'm so grateful. I have been floating on a cloud for the past two days. Thank you for that blessing.

The above quote from Ansel Adams is a complex challenge. I'm happy to focus with my photographs. In fact, that's what I do best. I feel like my words are often unclear. When do images become inadequate? Recently I have been trying to celebrate the discipline of silence as it pertains to journaling. My mind often wanders, but I suppose I am practicing being content with silence. I'm excited to see where this practice leads. For now, I shall be quiet and speak my thanks to you with an image.

Ernst Haas

"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are." -Ernst Haas

Commit this thought to memory. The camera, in the hands of an artist is an extension of the artist. That is why our images and vision are all unique. If you feel stuck or limited, expand your perspective and your images will improve. -Joe Photo

Henri Cartier-Bresson

"Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes." -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Herb Ritts

"I'd go down to the end of my street, to a garage that had a certain feeling about it, or a particular light; I'd take a picture of a friend who needed a head shot. That's how I learned, instead of having school assignments and learning camera techniques." -Herb Ritts

Robert Doisneau

"A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there - even if you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity." -Robert Doisneau

Ansel Adams

When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my minds eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without. -Ansel Adams

Mary Ellen Mark

"I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul." -Mary Ellen Mark

Alfred Stieglitz

"I do not object to retouching, dodging. or accentuation as long as they do not interfere with the natural qualities of photographic technique." -Alfred Stieglitz

Edward Weston

"Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." -Edward Weston

Helmut Newton

"I spend a lot of time preparing. I think a lot about what I want to do. I have prep books, little notebooks in which I write everything down before a sitting. Otherwise I would forget my ideas." -Helmut Newton

Galen Rowell

"I began to realize that film sees the world differently than the human eye, and that sometimes those differences can make a photograph more powerful than what you actually observed." -Galen Rowell

Gordon Parks

"I had known poverty firsthand, but there I learned how to fight its evil - along with the evil of racism - with a camera." -Gordon Parks

Helmut Newton

"Technically, I have not changed very much. Ask my assistants. They'll tell you, I am the easiest photographer to work with. I don't have heavy equipment. I work out of one bag." -Helmut Newton

Mary Ellen Mark

"I think you have to have a real point of view that's your own. You have to tell it your way. And, I think that it's a mistake to shoot for a specific magazine's point of view because it's never going to be as good. You have to shoot for yourself and photograph the way you believe it." -Mary Ellen Mark

Annie Leibovitz

"Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy - your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself." -Annie Leibovitz

Alfred Eisenstaedt

"I dream that someday the step between my mind and my finger will no longer be needed. And that simply by blinking my eyes, I shall make pictures. Then, I think, I shall really have become a photographer." -Alfred Eisenstaedt

Ansel Adams

"Notebook. No photographer should be without one!" -Ansel Adams

Henri Cartier-Bresson

"The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt." -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson

"Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn't go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick." -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Ansel Adams

"We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium." -Ansel Adams

Robert Doisneau

"The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street." -Robert Doisneau

Ernst Haas

"A picture is the expression of an impression. If the beautiful were not in us, how would we ever recognize it?" -Ernst Haas

Annie Leibovitz

"When you are younger, the camera is like a friend and you can go places and feel like you're with someone, like you have a companion." -Annie Leibovitz

Robert Mapplethorpe

"The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer." -Robert Mapplethorpe

Herb Ritts

"I think a lot of the time these days people are so concerned about having the right camera and the right film and the right lenses and all the special effects that go along with it, even the computer, that they're missing the key element." -Herb Ritts

Irving Penn

"A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective." -Irving Penn

Edward Weston

"Photography suits the temper of this age - of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately." -Edward Weston

Alfred Stieglitz

"It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes 'art' in time." -Alfred Stieglitz

Annie Leibovitz

"Computer photography won't be photography as we know it. I think photography will always be chemical." -Annie Leibovitz

Richard Avedon

"All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth." -Richard Avedon

Robert Capa

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." -Robert Capa

Richard Avedon

"I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable." -Richard Avedon

Diane Arbus

"I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them." -Diane Arbus

Henri Cartier-Bresson

"Memory is very important, the memory of each photo taken, flowing at the same speed as the event. During the work, you have to be sure that you haven't left any holes, that you've captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late." -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Ansel Adams

"A good photograph is knowing where to stand." -Ansel Adams

Richard Avedon

"My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph." -Richard Avedon