John Waters
[Filmmaker and photographer, b. 1946, Baltimore, Maryland, lives in Baltimore.]
The way I photograph... in many ways it’s directed by chance and all my mistakes, which are often the best stuff. I found that no matter if it’s the same tape, the same TV, and the same camera, I can never duplicate an image... your arm jiggles, there’s just too much chance. And I never put it on pause, or use any of that fancy equipment.
Harold Edgerton
[Scientist, inventor, and photographer, b. 1903, Fremont, Nebraska, d. 1990, Cambridge, Massachusetts.]
In many ways, unexpected results are what have most inspired my photography.
Nan Goldin
[Photographer, b. 1953, Washington, D.C., lives in New York and Paris.]
When you set up pictures you’re not at any risk. Reality involves chance and risk and diving for pearls.
John Baldessari
[Artist, b. 1931, National City, California, lives in Venice, California.]
Probably one of the worst things to happen to photography is that cameras have viewfinders.
Martin Munkacsi
[Photographer, b. 1898, Kolozsvár, Hungary, (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania), d. 1963, New York.]
Never pose your subjects. Let them move about naturally... All great photographs today are snapshots.
(1935)
Edward Curtis
[Photographer and ethnographer, b. 1868, Whitewater, Wisconsin, d. 1952, Los Angeles.]
For every negative that is a disappointment, there is one that is a joy.
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
[Photographer, b. 1902, Mexico City, d. 2002, Mexico City.]
Throughout my life I’ve never pursued anything. I just let things pursue me... they just show up... This is the way I’ve lead my life, not just in photography, but in life.
Susan Sontag
[Writer, theorist, and critic, b. 1933, New York, d. 2004, New York.]
What could be more surreal than an object... whose beauty, fantastic disclosures, emotional weight are likely to be further enhanced by any accidents that might befall it? It is photography that has best shown how to juxtapose the sewing machine and the umbrella, whose fortuitous encounter was hailed by a great Surrealist poet as an epitome of the beautiful.
