“There are two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer”

—  Ansel Adams

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There are two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer" by Ansel Adams?
Ansel Adams photo
Ansel Adams 29
American photographer and environmentalist 1902–1984

Related quotes

Ansel Adams photo

“To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.”

Ansel Adams (1902–1984) American photographer and environmentalist

Context: I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful. But, yes, people have asked why I don’t put people into my pictures of the natural scene. I respond, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” That usually doesn’t go over at all.

Howard S. Becker photo

“Every part of the photographic image carries some information that contributes to its total statement; the viewer's responsibility is to see, in the most literal way, everything that is there and respond to it”

Howard S. Becker (1928) American sociologist

Becker (1986) "Do Photographs Tell the Truth?” and “Aesthetics and Truth" as cited in: Ingolf Erler (2010) Das Buch als soziales Symbol. p. 147.

Nicole Krauss photo
Ansel Adams photo

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

Ansel Adams (1902–1984) American photographer and environmentalist

Attributed to Adams in E.T. Schoch (2002), The Everything Digital Photography Book (2002) p. 105

Tom Savini photo
Ansel Adams photo

“Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.”

Ansel Adams (1902–1984) American photographer and environmentalist

“…photographers shouldn’t confuse their response to the politics of the country with their role as photographers.”

David Goldblatt (1930–2018) South African photographer

In an interview with Okwui Enwezor, as quoted in "The Camera Is Not a Machine Gun" http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=10557, Fred Ritchin, 1998

Man Ray photo

“I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions. Quoted in”

Man Ray (1890–1976) American artist and photographer

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/man-ray/prophet-of-the-avant-garde/510/ PBS episode of American Masters

Richard Avedon photo

Related topics