Pedro Meyer
[Photographer, b. 1935, Madrid, Spain, lives in Mexico City.]
I always found it rather pathetic that as a photographer I would be dependent to such a large extent on sheer luck... So the moment I was offered [digital] tools to bend the shape of the image into my choices, and not those of lady luck, I was hooked.
Paul Graham
[Photographer, b. 1956, Stafford, England, lives in New York.]
…when you have a worthwhile idea, you should be prepared to gamble on it, test it out and see what the world gives back.
Richard Avedon
[Photographer, b. 1923, New York, d. 2004, San Antonio, Texas.]
I think all art is about control—the encounter between control and the uncontrollable.
Bill Brandt
[Photographer, b. 1904, Hamburg, Germany, d. 1983, London.]
A photographer must be prepared to catch and hold onto those elements which give distinction to the subject or lend it atmosphere. They are often momentary, chance-sent things...
William Klein
[Photographer, b. 1928, New York, lives in Paris.]
I have always loved the amateur side of photography, automatic photographs, accidental photographs with uncentered compositions, heads cut off, whatever. I incite people to make their self-portraits. I see myself as their walking photo booth.
Frederick Sommer
[Photographer, b. 1905, Angri, Italy, d. 1999, Prescott, Arizona.]
I could take a cow and implant a camera in it and let it amble around the city or in its own domain (I say a cow because a human being I would not trust). If the camera was programmed to go off at an indeterminate series of moments, the samplings would be fantastic.
Edward Steichen
[Photographer and curator, b. 1879, Luxembourg, Germany, d. 1973, West Redding, Connecticut.]
It is an error common to many artists, [who] strive merely to avoid
mistakes, when all our efforts should be to create positive and important
work. Better positive and important with mistakes and failures than perfect
mediocrity.
Sally Mann
[Photographer, b. 1951, Lexington, Virginia, lives in Lexington.]
Stop trying to get it right. Just take the picture.
