Philip Jones Griffiths
[Photojournalist, b. 1936, Rhuddian, Wales, d. 2008, London.]

 I believe photography owes its status to achieving what no other medium can, capturing the reality of the defining moments of human existence as decisively as possible. 

Eliot Porter
[Photographer, b. 1901, Winnetka, Illinois, d. 1990, Santa Fe, New Mexico.]

 Photography is a strong tool, a propaganda device, and a weapon for the defense of the environment... and therefore for the fostering of a healthy human race and even very likely for its survival. 

Horst Faas
[Photojournalist, b. 1933, Berlin, Germany, d. 2012, Munich, Germany.]

 I think the best war photos I have taken have always been made when a battle was actually taking place—when people were confused and scared and courageous and stupid and showed all these things. When you look at people right at the very moment of truth, everything is quite human. You take a picture at this moment with all the mistakes in it, with everything that might be confusing to the reader, but that’s the right combat photo. 

Gordon Parks
[Photographer and filmmaker, b. 1912, Fort Scott, Kansas, d. 2006, New York.]

 I have for a long time, worked under the premise that everyone is worth something; that every life is valuable to our own existence. Consequently, I’ve felt it was my camera’s responsibility to shed light on any condition that hinders growth or warps the spirit of those trapped in the ruinous evils of poverty... To me they were ghosts of my own past. 

Joan Fontcuberta
[Photographer, b. 1955, Barcelona, lives in Barcelona.]

 I’m not interested in photography because of the camera, lenses, and developing processes, but because it is the repository for all of those intellectual conflicts, all of the problems human have had to deal with in these last decades. I think the twentieth century has been defined by that vision, the photographic culture. 

Luigi Ghirri
[Photographer, b. 1943, Scandiano, Italy, d. 1992, Reggio Emilia, Italy.]

 Any photographed human being is always a photograph. 

Langston Hughes
[Writer, b. 1902, Joplin, Missouri, d. 1967, New York.]

 Anyday, one can walk down the street in a big city and see a thousand people. Any photographer can photograph these people—but very few photographers can make their prints not only reproductions of the people taken, but a comment upon them—or more, a comment upon their lives—or more still, a comment upon the social order that creates these lives. 

Elliott Erwitt
[Photographer, b. 1928, Paris, France, lives in New York.]

 You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy. 
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