Quotes about photography (124 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

“It's a very frustrated feeling you get when the only people with good photos of you work are the police department.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

People , Feeling

“Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software. If we hadn't used NAND flash memory [to store data such as games and photos] and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded.”

Shigeru Miyamoto (1952) Japanese video game designer and producer

On Wii
Source: November 16, 2006 Business Week interview http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061116_750580.htm

Money , Game , Idea , Memory

“If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning… Face it, friend. He is crazy about you!”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

God , Spring , Flowers

“Air travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo.”

Al Gore (1948) 45th Vice President of the United States

Way , Travel , Nature

“I’m camera shy. But I had to do a portfolio for my world tour. So Karthik of Dreamcast and I worked in tandem and conceptualised the shoot. I wanted a rock star look. Possibly, with just a bit of the face showing. Since the show is full of surprises, I wanted the promo photos too to kindle curiosity.”

Yuvan Shankar Raja (1979) Indian musician

Yuvan Unplugged (2009)

World , Star

“That's why I spit it in my songs so sweet
Like a photo of your granny's picture
Now that you're gone it hit us
Super hard on Thankgiving and Christmas, this can't be right”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

Family Business
Lyrics, The College Dropout (2004)

Christmas

“Near the northern boundary of Malaya, Japanese took a sudden interest in taking photos and setting up easels to paint. The same thing happened in Johor Bahru. A causeway crosses the Straits of Johor. If you're facing Singapore island, on the left side of the causeway was Seletar. The Japanese would set up easels and paint Seletar. All of them were spies.”

Robert Kuok (1923) Malaysian businessman

Cap 2 "The Wuhan Songsters"

Painting

“I just realized that I hadn't posted about the film "An Inconvenient Truth" for those of you who don't know, this movie talks about global warming. I went into the movie a little skeptical, wondering if I was going to be preached at by Al Gore, the narrator and spokesperson for the film. It's a documentary, too, so I wasn't expecting anything too exciting. As it turns out, this movie is a must-see. it's not about Al Gore, tree-hugging hippies, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, George Bush, or U. S. issues. This film and the movement surrounding it is about being aware of the nasty turn our world and weather seems to be taking, and what we can do to turn it around before we ruin the only pace we have to live. The information in this film is shocking. Parts of our planet that I assumed were covered in ice are now melting, and the photos of these places, seen in the movie, make me nervous. The links from this past year's natural disasters to the overall direction of global warming is an issue that is worth looking at. The ten hottest years ever measured were in the last 14 years. The hottest was last year, but it doesn't take a genius to tell that this year is hotter.”

Mike Shinoda (1977) American musician

LP/FM MB 2006

Truth , World , Nature , Tree

“You know, I worked with Leonardo when he was 18 [on The Quick and the Dead]. He was a virgin, and he would talk about that constantly. So I'm hoping we have some time so he can fill in what's happened in between. Maybe show some photos. Because I'm sure life's different now.”

Leonardo DiCaprio (1974) American actor and film producer

Russell Crowe (EW November 2, 2007)
About

Life , Hope , Time , Dead

“Everybody does that now. We all take pics… you do the same with holiday photos. You record something to look back on it, even though you’re not really there when you’re taking the picture ‘cause you’re too busy recording it; so you retrospectively go to look back on where you weren’t and tell yourself you had a good time.”

Dylan Moran (1971) Irish actor and comedian

On taking pics.
Monster (2004)

Business , Time , Holiday

“I just want to say thank you again to all you crazy motherfuckers who came out for hitRECord on Halloween - give me your records! I want to see your videos, I want to see your photos, and even more importantly, I love this stuff, remix it!”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1981) American actor, director, producer, and writer

Love , Making love

“Who's the other kid in the photo?' he asked. 'The sandy-haired guy.'
Annabeth's expression tightened. Touchy subject.
'That's Luke,' she said. 'He's dead now.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Guy , Dead

“When you look like your passport photo, it's time to go home.”

Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…

Source: When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home

Home , Time

“Look, did you ask me to come all the way uptown just so you could stare at me like I was something in a petri dish? Next time I'll send you a photo."
"And I'll frame it and put it on my nightstand," said Jace.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Way , Time

“Hey," said Jace. who was sitting on an overturned speaker, looking at his cellphone, "do you want to see a photo of Alec and Magnus in Berlin?"
"Not really," said Simon.
"Magnus is wearing lederhosen."
"And yet, still no.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“Alec keeps sending me annoying photos. Lots of captions like Wish you were here, except not really.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“A photo says, you were happy, and I wanted to catch that. A photo says, you were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Happiness

“Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

Way , Travel , Nature

“I was the girl he had chosen to kiss. He wanted, somehow to set me free. He didn't want to burn my photo or toss it away, but he didn't want to look at me anymore, either.”

Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones

Source: The Lovely Bones

Girl , Kiss

“I don't think anyone ever remembers what they were really like as kids. Adults think they do, but they don't. Photos and videos don't capture the real you, or bring back to life the person you used to be. You have to return to the past to do that.”

Darren Shan book Sons of Destiny

Source: Sons of Destiny

Life , Thinking , Past , Personality

“she is no longer
the beautiful woman
she was. she sends
photos of herself
sitting upon a rock
by the ocean
alone and damned.
I could have had
her once. I wonder
if she thinks I
could have
saved her?”

Charles Bukowski book Love Is a Dog from Hell

Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell

Beauty , Thinking

“Because photos are testimony that someone did live. A reminder of past we may have loved or hated. A piece of our lives.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Love , Hate , Past

“If you truly love film, I think the healthiest thing to do is not read books on the subject. I prefer the glossy film magazines with their big colour photos and gossip columns, or the National Enquirer.”

Werner Herzog (1942) German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and opera director

Such vulgarity is healthy and safe.
Herzog on Herzog (2002)

Love , Books , Thinking , Reading

“She even touches Jimmy's face on the photos, and I see what it is to love someone like Milla loved that man. Her fingertips are made of love.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Source: I Am the Messenger

Love

“You two. You can do a cleaning spell."
One slurred, "But Nixie, I'm really pre-hung-over."
Nix's eyes went wide. "Do it, or the photos go live!"
The witch shook her fist to the sky, crying, "Damn you, Valkyrie! Damn you and your digital ways!”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Kiss of a Demon King

Way , Cry

“I am primarily painting from photographs these days (from illustrated magazines but also from family photos), in a sense this is a stylistic problem, the form is naturalistic, even though the photograph is not nature at all but a prefabricated product (the “second-hand world” in which we live), I do not have to intervene artistically with style, since the stylization (deformation in form and color) contributes only under very particular circumstances toward clarifying and intensifying an object or a subject (generally stylization becomes the central problem which obscures everything else (object, subject), it leads to an unmotivated artificiality, an untouchable formalist taboo.”

Gerhard Richter (1932) German visual artist, born 1932

In Richter's letters from Düsseldorf, 19 July 1963 - to two artist friends, Helmut and Erika Heinze
1960's

World , Family , Color , Nature

“Specks—specks all over the third panel, see?—no, that one—the second one up from the floor and I wanted to point this out to someone yesterday but a photo shoot intervened and Yaki Nakamari or whatever the hell the designer's name is—a master craftsman not—mistook me for someone else so I couldn't register the complaint, but, gentlemen—and ladies—there they are: specks, annoying, tiny specks, and they don't look accidental but like they were somehow done by a machine—so I don't want a lot of description, just the story, streamlined, no frills, the lowdown: who, what, where, when and don't leave out why, though I'm getting the distinct impression by the looks on your sorry faces that why won't get answered—now, come on, goddamnit, what's the story?”

Bret Easton Ellis book Glamorama

Glamorama (1998)

Hell

“We run a car wreck photo every week, whether we have a car wreck or not. That's our golden rule.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

The Shipping News (1993)

Cars

“Well, at first I wanted to put blinds on the building [of the outdoor-sculpture Josef Strau did for her recently]. But when I do something I've already done before, I sometimes have a certain feeling of uncertainty. Although I am falling back on something that I know is safe and pretty good. But then it was all too expensive. I had seen glowing green, fresh bamboo at the KaDeWe store. It had attracted my attention and I thought it would be nice to do something with it. Back home, sitting over the photo, drawing some things on it, I remembered this lovely green bamboo again and also that there was this fascist building – or partly fascist building – next to the store, a theater, an ugly building. And then I thought, bamboo is politically correct, that's just the thing. But I also think it's visually beautiful. Simple. The work is called 'Haare wachsen wie sie wollen”

Isa Genzken (1948) German sculptor

'Hair grows the way it wants'
2001 - 2010, Isa Genzken in conversation with Wolfgang Tillmans' (2003)

Love , Beauty , Way , Feeling

“There is a recent photo of Pope Francis doing the rounds on social media that shows him walking alone, without security people or a private secretary, across a Vatican courtyard. In the early days of his pontificate, it would have been seen as Francis breaking through the stuffy conventions of the Vatican: being his own man. Five years on, it is instead viewed as symbolic of Francis’s loneliness. Here is a man struggling to find allies or support from the Catholic faithful in his stalled efforts to reform the church and failing attempts to tackle the abuse crisis.”

Catherine Pepinster (1959)

Pope Francis has utterly failed to tackle the church’s abuse scandal https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/pope-francis-catholic-church-abuse-scandal-failed (26 July 2018), The Guardian.

People , Faith , Support , Effort

“George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world.
He promised to "restore honor and integrity to the White House." Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.
Honor? He decided not to honor the Geneva Convention. Just as he would not honor the United Nations, international treaties, the opinions of our allies, the role of Congress and the courts, or what Jefferson described as "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind." He did not honor the advice, experience and judgment of our military leaders in designing his invasion of Iraq. And now he will not honor our fallen dead by attending any funerals or even by permitting photos of their flag-draped coffins.”

Al Gore (1948) 45th Vice President of the United States

Quotes, NYU Speech (2004)

World , Housing , Dead , Country

“If I die, then I die. And if I don’t, then I don’t. Right now I feel good. I am aware that in some of my recent photos I look somewhat unhealthy, but that’s what illness can do. I’m not going to worry about that, I’ll rest when I’m dead.”

Morrissey (1959) English singer

from an interview for El Mundo (2014), regarding the announcement of Morrissey's cancer diagnosis
In interviews etc., About life and death

Feeling , Dead

“The first thing Michael Phelps should have done when that photo came out was call Kobe Bryant's publicist. Cuz Kobe was accused of rape, and all he had to do was settle in court for millions of dollars, change his jersey number and win a championship and that soulless town in LA couldn't be prouder. I just hope that when parents let their kids run around in #24 jerseys, they have the decency to say: 'well come on, number 8 was the rapist. Number 24 has a great work ethic and an unblockable turnaround.”

Daniel Tosh (1975) American stand-up comedian

Happy Thoughts (2011)

Hope , Parent , Change

“Man: [looking at a Stieglitz's photo of 'Equivalents'] Is this a photograph of water?
Stieglitz: What difference does it make of what it is a photograph?
Man: But is it a photograph of water?
Stieglitz: I tell you it does not matter.
Man: Well, then, is it a picture of the sky?
Stieglitz: It happens to be a picture of the sky. But I cannot understand why that is of any importance.”

Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) American photographer

w:Dorothy Norman recorded a conversation between Stieglitz and a man, looking at one of his 'Equivalents' prints
Source: 'Minor White, A Living Remembrance', Dorothy Norman, in 'Aperture', 1984, p. 9.

Understanding , Water

“This implication of the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis is pretty radical, so please pause your reading for a moment to take it in and think about it. What you’re aware of right at this moment feels not like a photo but like a movie clip. This movie isn’t reality—it exists only in your head, as part of your brain’s reality model. It contains lots of information about the actual external physical reality—as long as you aren’t dreaming or hallucinating—but still constitutes only a very heavily edited version of reality, akin to the evening news on TV, mainly featuring certain highlights of patterns nearby in space and time that your brain thinks are useful for you to be aware of.”

Max Tegmark book Our Mathematical Universe

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality (2014)

Dreams , Feeling , Mathematics , Thinking

“I started those [the 'Elisabeth Taylor' pictures, Warhol made from a publicity photo of her 1960 film 'BUtterfield 8 a long time ago when she was so sick and everybody said she was going to die [but she recovered]. Now I'm doing them all over, putting bright colors on her lips and eyes. My next series will be pornographic pictures, they will look blank; when you turn on the black lights, then you will see them - big breast and... If a cop came in, then you could just flick out the lights or turn to the regular lights. How could you say that was pornography?... Segal did a sculpture of two people making love, but he cut it all up, I guess because he thought it was too pornographic to be art... The thing I like about it is that it makes you forget about style and that sort of things; style isn't really important.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Source: 1963 - 1967, What Is Pop Art? Interviews with Eight Painters, Part 1 (1963), pp. 116-19

Love , People , Making love , Art

“Collective intelligence. Think of how Wikipedia works, how Amazon harnesses user annotation on its site, the way photo-sharing sites like Flickr are bleeding out into other applications… We're entering an era in which software learns from its users and all of the users are connected.”

Tim O'Reilly (1954) Irish computer programmer

When asked "What innovation will most alter how we live in the next few years, as quoted in TIME magazine (24 October 2005)

Way , Intelligence , Thinking , Learning

“"The Lucky One" is at its heart a romance novel, elevated however by Nicholas Sparks' persuasive storytelling. Readers don't read his books because they're true, but because they ought to be true. You can easily imagine how many ways this story would probably go wrong in real life, but who wants to see a movie where a Marine leans over to pick up a photo and is blown up? And a mom trying to raise her son and feed lots of hungry dogs while her abusive ex-husband gets drunk and hangs around? That kind of stuff is too close to life.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review https://web.archive.org/web/20120505180249/http://rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120418/REVIEWS/120419985/1001 of The Lucky One (18 April 2012)
Reviews, Two-and-a-half star reviews

Life , Books , Dogs , Way

“And always Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne, over and over the same photo in glaring greens and reds, of a tram, huffy, blunderous, manoeuvring itself with pole akimbo round the tight corner where Bourke Street enters Spring.”

Helen Garner book Cosmo Cosmolino

Page 14, postcards the narrator sent.
Cosmo Cosmolino (1992)

Spring

“This time the entire floor is covered with cut-up illustrated journals, a new tic and trick of mine (eight days now): I cut out photos from illustrated journals and dissolve them with a chemical solution and swipe and smear them. That is fabulous fun. I have always loved illustrated magazines, perhaps because of their documentary actuality. I have also already made a few attempts to paint something like that in a larger format. Curious to see how it will continue. I am pursuing something which in a certain way resembles the most recent movement: Pop art (from popular), probably came up in America and is now heating up the minds here.”

Gerhard Richter (1932) German visual artist, born 1932

In Richter's letters from Düsseldorf, 10 March 1963 - to two artist friends, Helmut and Erika Heinze
1960's

Love , Art , Way , Time

“Then there are the phones designed for East Asian sensibilities. The same region that brought us the selfie stick also brought us Oppo, a company whose phone’s principal selling points include a high-quality camera and custom software that automatically airbrushes photos with faces in them. The ad campaigns emphasize a particularly performative form of femininity, since, in a nice touch, the software makes a guess about the gender of the subject—everyone gets smoother skin, but only the ladies get their lips reddened. Despite successful rollouts in Thailand and Korea, Oppo has not made much of a dent in markets outside East Asia. Their U. S. launch was a bust.”

Clay Shirky (1964) American technology writer

Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream (2015)

Success

“I think you just have to space out selfies with not too many professional photos. Followers want to see you and get to know you. Posting consistently is important, and with captions I try to talk about what I’m doing. I use quotes, but only if they aren’t cliché. I do less group pictures, because followers want to see what you’re doing and not what other people are doing. So not too many group photos. You have to cater to your audience, remember why they followed you.”

Antje Utgaard (1994) American actress

Antje Utgaard Spills The Top Mistakes You're Making On Instagram https://galoremag.com/antje-utgaard-spills-the-top-mistakes-youre-making-on-instagram/ (November 3, 2016)

People , Quotes , Thinking

“"As the above report and photos … indicate, foreign troops are now permanently stationed in our country… We must steel ourself [sic] for what may soon come. The dark clouds surely are gathering. We may not have much more time." (January 1997).”

Texe Marrs (1944–2019) American writer

citation needed

Time , Country

“Be so kind and write me by return, with drawing and explanation, how I can make a [photo] camera. - as I then saw at your home. (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923) Dutch painter and photographer

version in original Dutch (citaat van Breitner's brief, in het Nederlands:) Wees zoo goed en meld me per omgaande, met teekening en uitleg, hoe ik een [foto]-camera kan maken. - zooals ik toen bij jou gezien heb.
Quote of Breitner's letter to his friend H. van der Weele, 14 July 1883 or 1889; as cited by R. Bergsma, & P.H. Hefting, in George Hendrik Breitner 1857-1923, Bussum 1994, p. 21
There are different opinions about the year Breitner started using a photo-camera; they all differ between 1883 and 1889
before 1890

Home , Drawing

“Jake jerked a thumb at the door. "Al right. Get the hell out of here, and take all your pictures of naked women with you." "Yes, sir." Chuckling, Potter scooped up the folder of reconnaissance photos and started out. He paused with his hand on the doorknob. "Good luck," he said. "You've done everything you could to get us ready, but we'll still need it." "I'll put in a fresh requisition with the Quartermaster Corps," Jake said. Potter nodded and left. Jake shook his head in bemusement. He might have made stupid jokes like that with Ferd Koenig and a couple of other old-time Party buddies, but not with anybody else. So why make them with Potter? But he didn't need long to find the answer. He'd known Potter longer than he'd known Koenig or any of the other Party men. They'd both hung tough when the Army of Northern Virginia was falling to pieces all around them. If the president of the greatest country in North America- no, in the world!”

Harry Turtledove book American Empire: The Victorious Opposition

couldn't joke around with the one man who'd known him when he was just a sergeant, with whom could he joke? Nobody. Nobody at all.
Source: American Empire: The Victorious Opposition (2003), p. 533

Women , Men , Stupidity , World

“I make installations and the final result is a video projection and the photograph. If I didn’t make video projections, then call me one thing; if I didn’t make photos, then call me another. I’m in between an installation artist, video artist and photographer. And when you work with nude bodies, you’re immediately called a pornographer or a fashion photographer.”

Spencer Tunick (1967) American photographer

Spencer Tunick in: "Interview Spencer Tunick," at coolcleveland.com, 2004.

Fashion

“I am deeply honored, and genuinely humbled with my selection for Brigadier General. With this promotion, I embrace the opportunity to serve in positions of greater responsibility and to continue to lead the amazing Soldiers in the world’s premier Army. While the DoD position is that orientation is a private matter, participating with family in traditional ceremonies such as the promotion is both common and expected of a leader. I was grateful to be surrounded by my family, friends, and co-workers at this special event. Looking at the photos of Tracey’s joy as she pins the star on my shoulder is a memory that will imprint my heart forever. Her support keeps me Army Strong.”

Tammy Smith (1963) United States Army officer

Quoted on Out Serve Magazine, "Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith Makes Statemant" http://outservemag.com/2012/08/brig-gen-tammy-smith-makes-statement/, August 16, 2013.

World , Family , Star , Support

“I was fascinated by Papa's studio [he was photographer]. I would help him wash, crop and press photos and afterwards sell them, when we were poor. When I was in Prepa, [following college] they would send me to help my father when he had epileptic attacks. After school I would go to his office, which was downtown, and accompany him everywhere. I would also do my homework there, and he would help me. I remember the fear that Papa's epileptic attacks make me feel. Christina and I would hide under the bed.”

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) Mexican painter

9 September 1950
Source: 1946 - 1953, "Song of herself"; interviews by Olga Campos, Sept. 1950, Chapter 'My life', p. 63

Fear , School , Feeling , Help

“But once I had a Jabscreen of my own, I soon discovered the novelty lasts six months, tops. There's a limit to how many conversations you can have about it before you reach burnout. Have you seen the app which takes your photo and makes it look like you're really fat? Yes. And the game where you land all the planes on the runway? Yes, that too. Hey, how about this thing with the funny red monster that repeats everything you say? Please leave me. Please just leave me here to die.”

Charlie Brooker (1971) journalist, broadcaster and writer from England

Guardian columns

Game

“All the average feds care about is dressing up in black uniforms and having mustaches and starring at people… I know your mustache is cool! You got little gold-framed glasses! You scare me so bad! Ugh… you scum! Scum! … What's driving me crazy is that photo right there, zoom in on that, it's one of those cops with a black uniform with a mustache. You know that guy is a coward! You know he's a piece of garbage! You know he's weak! Oh! … Oh, you got a mustache, I'll just worship you. Oh, you got a mustache, it's okay! Ugh, your demonic little mustaches!”

Alex Jones (1974) American radio host, author, conspiracy theorist and filmmaker

"Demonic Mustache Rant!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ktiWWYxq8, February 2012.
2012

People , Guy , Star

“Knowledge and wonder are the dyad of our worthy lives as intellectual beings. Voyager did wonders for our knowledge, but performed just as mightily in the service of wonder—and the two elements are complementary, not independent or opposed. The thought fills me with awe—a mechanical contraption that could fit in the back of a pickup truck, traveling through space for twelve years, dodging around four giant bodies and their associated moons, and finally sending exquisite photos across more than four light-hours of space from the farthest planet in our solar system.”

Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) American evolutionary biologist

"The Horn of Triton", pp. 508–509
Bully for Brontosaurus (1991)

Travel , Knowledge , Light

“That feeling of terrible emptiness when I touched him was like going into a house that you thought would be full of people you loved, only to find it empty, and even the furniture taken. You walk from room to room, hearing your footsteps echo on the naked floors. Your voice bounces back from the empty walls, where the lines of beloved photos still show like the line around a body at a crime scene. He was gone.”

Laurell K. Hamilton (1963) Novelist

memories of Princess Meredith about encountering the body of her father, Essus; p. 40
Merry Gentry series, A Stroke of Midnight (2005)

Love , People , Feeling , Housing

“What was good about Bill was that whenever he wrote a plot, he did a lot of research for it. Whether the setting was a railroad station or a factory, he would find a photo reference, usually from National Geographic, and give Bob all the research to draw from. He was very orderly and methodical. His only problem was that he couldn't sustain the work… he couldn't produce material regularly enough”

Bill Finger (1914–1974) American comic strip and comic book writer

George Roussos as quoted by George Roussos in Gruenwald, Mark (April 1983). "George Roussos". Comics Interview (2) (Fictioneer Books). pp. 45–51.
About

Problem , Drawing

“Normally, when one passes someone on the street who is in pain, one either tries to help him, or one simply looks the other way. With a photo there's no human decision; you're not there; you can't turn away; you simply gape. It's a form of voyeurism.”

W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Anglo-American poet

Source: Paris Review interview (1972), p. 247

Pain , Way , Decision , Help

“One gets as much information as a witness of activity from a fleeting glance [in the photo], like a quick look, sometimes in motion, as one does staring at the subject. Because even if you remain stationary your mind wanders, and it's that kind of activity that I would like to get into the photograph – a confirmation of the fact that everything is moving.”

Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) American artist

1980's, I don't necessarily desire a perfect photography,' 1981

“Heisenberg finds that facts of observation lead uniquely and inevitably to the theoretical structure known as matrix mechanics. This shows that the total radiation in any region of empty space can change only by a single complete quantum at a time. Thus not only in the photo-electric phenomenon, but in all other transfers of energy through space, energy is always transferred by complete quanta; fractions of a quantum can never occur. This brings atomicity into our picture of radiation just as definitely as the discovery of the electron and its standard charge brought atomicity into our picture of matter and of electricity.”

James Jeans (1877–1946) British mathematician and astronomer

Physics and Philosophy (1942)

Change , Time

“Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.”

Carol Ann Duffy (1955) British writer and professor of contemporary poetry

Valentine, from Mean Time (1993).

Lovers , Tear

“Our sketchbooks and studies – as well as the paintings and photos, convey the detail of our [Gabriele with Kandinsky, 1905] Tunisian impressions. At times we got along well – at times not at all – we took walks in the city and also in the Belvedere park – it was never boring with my beloved [ Kandinsky ], but we didn't made contact with any other people; he never wanted it.”

Gabriele Münter (1877–1962) German painter

Quote of Gabriele Münter in her 'Memoir entries' for 1905; as cited by Roger Benjamin, Cristina Ashjian, in Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia; Univ. of California Press, 18 Aug 2015

People , Study , Time , Painting

“Lois: [intercepting a man in the women's bookstore] Can I help you find something, sir?
Man: Um… just browsing.
Lois: Hmm… I find that publication rather tame myself. Have you ever seen this one? This month there's a hot photo spread of three totally tattooed babes with strap-ons doing an armpit shaving scene. And if you're looking for a real thrill, check out the story, "She Came in Waves," in this new female ejaculation anthology!
Man: 'Scuse me, I think I left my car at a hydrant.”

Alison Bechdel book Dykes to Watch Out For

#155, "Cultural Exchange" (1993), collected in Spawn of DTWOF (1993).
Dykes to Watch Out For

Women , Cars , Thinking , Help

“They're photographs by Adam Fuss. He's an artist. They are beautiful, artistic photos - more silhouettes than anything else. It's not like, "Hey, Mom and Dad are naked, come check it out!" But if I go to the bathroom and my kid walks in, I'm not going to be like, "Oh my God! Close the door!"”

Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress

They see their parents naked all the time. We are not ashamed.
Admitting that there are nude photographs of herself and Seal hanging in their bedroom and bathroom. Quoted by Jennifer Weiner in InStyle, February 2010.

God , Beauty , Moms , Parent

“I had just had an operation, I was totally bored and so I just took my camera and took some pictures of myself. Out of boredom. I only realised afterwards that this work was something special. Taking photos in the clinic and publishing them in a catalogue.... it suddenly took on a kind of seriousness. Everyone's scared of clinics, and no-one wants to see what a clinic looks like from the inside. Well not really. And everyone's a bit scared of having to go there themselves. And there I was in there. And I stand by it. And I used the clinic as a studio and started taking photos. And then I felt better. Just because it let me do something.”

Isa Genzken (1948) German sculptor

2001 - 2010, Isa Genzken in conversation with Wolfgang Tillmans' (2003)

“When you say journalist, it's like oh -- how many sources have you fact checked? When you say photographer -- it's, why are your photos a little bit out of focus? The answer is because I don't care. I like to call myself a storyteller so I don't have to worry about other people's definition of what correct work is.”

Brandon Stanton (1984) American photographer

CBS News, 2014; [Blogger makes intimate connections with strangers on streets of NYC, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/humans-of-new-york-blogger-talks-connecting-with-strangers/, CBS NEWS, January 2, 2014, January 6, 2014]

People

“When I was nine years old, I stumbled upon a book that contained photos of preborn children who had been killed in the 1st trimester by suction abortion. Even at that age, I could plainly see that abortion involves killing a child and does tremendous violence to its mother. As I grew older, I began to research abortion's impact on our nation, and its effects on the mother -- injuries, infertility, life-long depression and guilt, and even the likelihood for that guilt to manifest itself in physical or emotional abuse of later children. I also studied the lives of those who fought human rights abuses, from slavery to the Nazi extermination of the Jews to the civil rights movement, and activists and advocates like Martin Luther King, Jr., St Teresa of Calcutta, William Wilberforce, and Sophie Scholl.”

Lila Rose (1988) American anti-abortion activist

Life , Children , Books , Age

“Idiots can do what I do. When I first started to do this [projecting photos on the canvas and painting them after having them traced in details with a piece of charcoal] in the 60's, people laughed. I clearly showed that I painted from photographs. It seemed so juvenile. The provocation was purely formal - that I was making paintings like photographs. Nobody asked about what was in the pictures. Nobody asked who my Aunt Marianne was. That didn't seem to be the point.”

Gerhard Richter (1932) German visual artist, born 1932

Richter's aunt had been murdered by the Nazis in the name of euthanasia, a crime for which his father-in-law from his first marriage, a Nazi doctor named Heinrich Eufinger, had been partially responsible. Richter painted a portrait of his aunt in 1965, based on an old photo. It was called 'Tante Marianne' / 9Aunt Marianne).
after 2000, Gerhard Richter: An Artist Beyond Isms' (2002)

People , Painting

“Nan, she died again, tragically. We decided to get her embalmed, we threw a bit of money at it. And the embalmer asked us if we had any photos of Nan that he could work from. But unfortunately, the only photo we had was of Nan on the log-flume at Alton Towers.”

Harry Hill (1964) English comedian, doctor

"Hooves" Live

Money

“Roger: I think it's different in the way of how they handle stuff. I don't think they were really trying to. They wouldn't want us on it if they didn't like our music, you know what I'm saying? They obviously want us to create what we create and then they do what they're going to do. It's more things like interviews and more videos and photo shoots.. things like that with a major label kind of brings to the table. Which I may or may not be into - but it's a cool chance.”

Roger Manganelli (1973) American musician

Music , Way , Thinking , Chance

“I'm not a model. Whenever I do a photo shoot I like to create a story.”

Paz de la Huerta (1984) American actress

ES Magazine, 13 Jan 2012, pages 26-29

“I get really annoyed with photo shoots and interviews and handshakes. I’m a musician; God forbid I actually have time to make music.”

Patrick Stump (1984) American musician

Blender Magazine, "Boy Crazy" Article- June, 2006
Source: http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1927

God , Music , Time

“While the [Dept. of Defense] position is that orientation is a private matter, participating with family in traditional ceremonies such as the promotion is both common and expected of a leader. Looking at the photos of Tracey's joy as she pins the star on my shoulder is a memory that will imprint my heart forever. Her support keeps me Army Strong.”

Tammy Smith (1963) United States Army officer

Quoted on Yahoo News, "Meet Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith, the first openly gay U.S. general" http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/meet-brig-gen-tammy-smith-us-first-openly-211521611.html, August 13, 2012.

Family , Star , Support , Strong

“I sell photos of happiness and I hate it when others sell the never credited faces of the poor people of Bangladesh just for the sake of getting an international award by attracting sympathy.”

Prito Reza (1984) Photographer

Hate , People , Happiness

“Jeff Gannon: In your denunciations of the Abu Ghraib photos, you've used words like "sickening," "disgusting" and "reprehensible." Will you have any adjectives left to adequately describe the pictures from Saddam's rape rooms and torture chambers? And will Americans ever see those images?
Scott McClellan: I'm glad you brought that up, Jeff, because the President talks about that often.”

Scott McClellan (1968) Former White House press secretary

Source: Press briefing http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/05/20040510-14.html, May 10, 2004

“Picture yourself when you were five. In fact, dig out a photo of little you at that time and tape it to your mirror. How would you treat her, love her, feed her? How would you nurture her if you were the mother of little you? I bet you would protect her fiercely while giving her space to spread her itty-bitty wings. She'd get naps, healthy food, imagination time, and adventures into the wild. If playground bullies hurt her feelings, you'd hug her tears away and give her perspective. When tantrums or meltdowns turned her into a poltergeist, you'd demand a loving time-out in the naughty chair. From this day forward I want you to extend the same compassion to your adult self.”

Kris Carr (1971) American actress and filmmaker

Source: Crazy Sexy Diet (2011), Ch. 7

Love , Food , Feeling , Imagination

“There's a very specific formula for creating a monster. It starts with chronic, unrelenting abuse. There's got to be societal notification and then passing on. The child eventually believes that what's being done is societally sanctioned. And after a while, empathy – which we have to learn, we're not born with it – cracks and dies. He feels only his own pain. There's your predatory sociopath." That's why Vachss posed for a recent publicity photo cradling his pit bull puppy. "You know what pit bulls are capable of, right?" he asks, referring to the animal's notorious killer reputation. "But they're also capable of being the most wonderful, sweet pets in the world, depending on how you raise them. That's all our children."”

Andrew Vachss (1942) American writer and lawyer

Unleashing the Criminal Mind," San Francisco Examiner, July 12, 1990.

Pain , Children , World , Feeling

“Like the postcard collages, the colors are shapes in a landscape. In this case [his collage 'Napoleon at Würtsburg'] it is a painting of a landscape, not a photo as in the postcards [collages], and therefore a contrast of the traditional painting and a presentation of literal space on top of depicted space.”

Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015) American painter, sculptor, and printmaker

1981 - 2008
Source: 'Kelly in conversation, summers 1985 and 1986'; ed. Diane Upright, "Ellsworth Kelly: Works on Paper", Harry N. Inc., Publishers, New York, in association with the Fort Worth Art Museum, New York, 1987 p. 21

Color , Painting

“Anarchist reactionary, running-dog revisionist
Hindu, Muslim, Catholic creation, evolutionist
Rational, romantic, mystic, cynical, idealist
Minimal expressionist, post-modern neo-symbolist

Armchair rocket scientist, graffiti existentialist
Deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
Be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop, lite-pop-metallist
Gold adult contemporary, urban country capitalist
-- You Bet Your Life (1991)”

Neil Peart (1952–2020) Canadian-American drummer , lyricist, and author

Rush Lyrics

Life , Dogs , Country

“Masculinity is about posting black and white photos of yourself, shirtless, and wearing face paint on instagram.”

Jack Donovan (1974) American activist, editor and writer

Pg 62
The Way of Men (2012)

Painting

“One of my many favorite tattoos I’ve seen of myself is from a photo shoot I did for the cover of a compilation called Punk Fiction that came out in the 90s. And my friend who was putting it together asked me to re-create the movie poster for Pulp Fiction with me in place of Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace on the bed smoking a cigarette with the wig on and everything. So I went in and did that and it was the cover of the record and posters were made. Since then I’ve seen a portrait tattoo of me as Mia Wallace. That’s my favorite. And that was years before I was publicly dressing as a woman, which I’ve been doing for years now onstage and off. I think Mia Wallace was just one of my earlier excuses to strut around in women’s clothing.”

Davey Havok (1975) American singer

http://web.archive.org/web/20101014172908/http://rocknrolltales.com/read/afi

Women , Thinking , Tattoo , Clothes

“The photo can insist on reviewing moments that were unseen, or not know they were seen but passed in viewing. John Cage said (I don't know if they were his own remarks or Zen) his goal was not to get somewhere; he just wanted to enjoy the trip. That's the quality I want in all of my work, that a specific goal or accomplishment would be allied to the fact. I noticed a long time age, when I went to a strange country, that I had the best time and the greatest experiences when I thought I was lost, because when you are lost you look so much harder.”

Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) American artist

1980's, I don't necessarily desire a perfect photography,' 1981

Age , Time , Country

“All it takes is one good selfie and then send it around to all of the sites that post hot girls and maybe you’ll get chosen and they’ll pick you up. I mean it’s the little things too, see what’s trending, always see what’s trending. I don’t like to post selfies back-to-back-to-back. I don’t like to post professional photos back-to-back, or when it comes to colors, or if it’s too close or too far away or just like the littlest things. Everything matters, it really does. It can make a huge difference. If you’re going for modeling, like brand your page. If you’re trying to go for specific — if you’re not going for something. Like let’s say for me I’m a model and an actress, so I wanted to lean more towards both of those, so pictures of my food wouldn’t work because I’m not a blogger, or pictures of just random stuff that doesn’t make sense. People follow me for a reason and I know why they follow me.”

Antje Utgaard (1994) American actress

Social Media Star Antje Utgaard On Her Modeling Career, Instagram Tips & Being Compared To Kate Upton https://uinterview.com/news/social-media-star-antje-utgaard-modeling-career-instagram-tips-compared-kate-upton-video-exclusive/ (October 7, 2016)

People , Food , Color , Girl

“I am not that person who walks in a room with my nose in the sky. I smile at people when I meet them, and I like photos of me when I'm smiling because they show my personality. I am always trying to have fun.”

Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress

Interview by Kate Sullivan for Allure, April 2010

People , Smile , Personality

“Oh God! I'm going to miss him. I can’t yet imagine life without him. But I guess with God’s help… I'll learn. I keep looking at the photo he gave me of himself, which says, 'To my true love Elizabeth, I love you forever.”

Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) British-American actress

And, I will love HIM forever.
As quoted in "Michael Jackson: Elizabeth Taylor Honors her good friend" by Dave Karger, Entertainment Weekly (26 June 2009)

Love , Life , God , Imagination

“It's ten years since I heard, and
Then one day a letter comes.
It's neutral stuff, until I
Delve into the envelope
Again and find your photo,
Handsome still, and not a line
To tell me why you sent it.”

Edward Lucie-Smith (1933) British art critic, writer and curator

Poem A Former Lover

“It is not possible to make such things [paintings of street-views] without the help of photos. How do you want me to make an Amsterdam street. I make thumbnail sketches in my sketchbook. if it's possible I make a study from a window. and a sketch for the details after my choice. The composition is mine anyhow.”

George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923) Dutch painter and photographer

translation from the original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek
version in original Dutch (citaat van Breitner's brief, in het Nederlands:) Het is niet mogelijk dergelijke dingen te maken zonder hulp van photos. Hoe wil je dat ik een Amsterdamsche straat maak. Ik maak krabbeltjes in mijn schetsboek. als het kan een studie uit een raam. en een schets voor de details maar de keus. De compositie is toch van mij.
after 1886; quoted by Van Veen in G.H. Breitner : fotograaf en schilder van het Amsterdamse stadsgezicht', 1997, p. 28-29; as cited in Van IJs naar Sneeuw - De ontwikkeling van het wintergezicht in de 19de eeuw, Arsine Nazarian Juli 2008, Utrecht, p. 85
Breitner defended himself when he was criticized by his art-dealer in using photography for making his paintings
undated quotes

Study , Help , Painting

“Modelling is a job. For girls who want to be successful it's not something they should approach lightly. You should be professional, show up on time, prepare, and earn your money. Girls should also be aware of what they're expected to do at a photo shoot in terms of nudity, since there is often that kind of pressure — especially when you're just starting out and trying to make your mark. I also tell them they have to get a thicker skin. You have to handle criticism. All that stuff. A lot of people are looking at you and judging you. That's the nature of the job.”

Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress

Quoted by New Weekly, ninemsn Australia http://nw.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=600755, 19 April 2009

Money , People , Girl , Nature

“When I crashed my BMW and managed to walk away pretty much unscathed, it was a turning point. I'd been living the life, and when people see photos of the car wreck, they can't believe I got away with it. It was like a fog had lifted. I stopped drinking a bottle of Tequila before grabbing my car keys. It was time to wise-up and get a haircut.”

Johnny Marr (1963) musician

from " The Smiths: Johnny Marr looks back http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-smiths-johnny-marr-looks-back-526130.html", The Independent (24 February 2006).

Life , People , Cars , Drink

“Tommy started to play the guitar and sing. He and I had trekked more than once downtown to the Folk Center to hear a barefoot hillbilly woman in a long, faded skirt intone Elizabethan songs and pluck at a dulcimer or to listen, frightened and transported, to a big black Lesbian with a crew cut moan her way through the blues. The People — those brawny, smiling farmers, those plump, wholesome teens bursting out of bib overalls, those toothless ex-cons, those white-eyed dust bowel victims — the People, half-glimpsed in old photos, films and WPA murals, were about to reemerge, we trusted, into history and our lives.”

Edmund White book A Boy's Own Story

Source: A Boy's Own Story (1982), Chapter Five (p. 120).

People , Smile , Way , History

“I remember that they had this wonderful effect for my demise [on 2020: Texas Gladiators], with my skull being cracked open by an axe. They had photos of this stunning effect made, but then decided to change it because they thought it was just too much.”

Donald O'Brien (actor) (1930–2003) Italian film and TV actor

Euro Trash Cinema magazine interview (March 1996)

Change

“[in regards to the subway breakfast sandwich not being available after 11AM] I'll go "Uh, hey man, uh gimme an egg and cheese", and the kid will say, "I'm sorry, sir, it's after 11, we put all that stuff away." You didn't put it away… it's in the second green cabinet, it's right there. This place is as big as a photo-mat, there is no "away" in the building, you don't own "away". There's no Brink's truck that pulls up at 11:02 and yanks out the eggs under armed guard.”

Doug Stanhope (1967) American stand-up comedian, actor, and author

Deadbeat Hero (2004)

“There's always [on women's magazines] that great photo of the actress or model lifting up her shirt just to show you the bone structure and the six-pack of her own. It's almost like when horses are auctioned and they show you their teeth. 'Am I good enough?”

Janeane Garofalo (1964) comedian, actress, political activist, writer

standup performance (accessible through .WAV files available on the Internet)[citation needed]
Standup routines

Women , Horse

“The outdoor and indoor works are complementary, although I would have to say that nature, the landscape, the walking, is at the heart of my work and informs the indoor works. But the art world is usually received 'indoors' and I do have a desire to present real work in public time and space, as opposed to photos, maps and texts, which are by definition 'second hand' works. A sculpture feeds the senses at a place, whereas a photograph or text work (from another place) feeds the imagination. For me, these different forms of my work represent freedom and richness – it's not possible to say 'everything' in one way.”

Richard Long (1945) artist

Richard Long, ‎British Council (1994). Richard Long: São Paulo Bienal 1994.
1990s

World , Art , Way , Imagination

“I carry Keaton's photo around with me to remind me what happened to him. If the Hollywood system can destroy him it can destroy me.”

Marty Feldman (1934–1982) British actor and comedian

Marty Feldman - Six Degrees of Separation, BBC4.

“Okay, here's a tip: if you're doing something creepy like molesting children, you don't need to take topless photos of yourself to seal the deal. We know, the pedosmile is enough.”

Maddox (1978) American internet writer

The Best Page in the Universe

Children

“Sheryl's heroes are in black and white photos, and so are mine.”

John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter

Mayer on why he agreed to tour with Sheryl Crow, despite the fact that he considers her more established and successful
Mervis, Scott (2006). "Music Preview: John Mayer takes strides with new record" http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06236/715835-42.stm Post-Gazette.com (accessed August 23, 2006)

“In your denunciations of the Abu Ghraib photos, you've used words like sickening, disgusting, and reprehensible. Will you have any words left to adequately describe the pictures from Saddam's rape rooms and torture chambers? Will Americans ever see those images?”

Jeff Gannon (1957) American journalist

May 10, 2004
Questions asked at Press Conferences

“[Scottish accent] "We don't need your English bastard pounds! We're our own country, we'll have our own bloody money, eh?!" "Would you like your own currency?" "Ah, it's complicated mathematically. Let's just have yours with our photos, I think that's the best way!"”

Michael McIntyre (1976) British comedian

Source: Live at the Apollo (November 26, 2007)

Money , Way , Mathematics , Thinking

“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. … [T]rust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.”

Mary Schmich (1953) American columnist

"Wear Sunscreen" (1997)

Youth , Beauty , Way , Imagination

“Every picture shop is filled with pictures of the Emperor; every photographer's with photos--all sizes and in all kinds of positions, in and out of uniform, in different uniforms, looking condescending, looking dignified, on horseback in uniform, on horseback in plain clothes, on donkeyback, head and shoulders without legs, legs without head and shoulders, helmet in hand, helmet on head, helmet on tail, flying in mid air etc. etc. All the statuary too turns on the Emperor. There are busts chiselled in all sizes and the number of different varieties to be seen in halls, houses, shop windows etc. is something quite unbearable. The toy shops are filled with toy Emperors; when he was young the boy Emperor; then the man Emperor; in fact Berlin is saturated with the blessed Emperor as man, woman, boy, girl, soldier, tinker, tailor. The end of it all will be that the people will go stark staring mad and the Emperor himself will go off with a bang the verdict being: "Death from explosion owing to his receiving more hero-worship than the human frame can bear!"”

Edward German (1862–1936) English musician and composer

In a letter to his sister, describing his observations from a trip to Germany of the cult-like status given the Kaiser.

Death , People , Girl , Boy

“Basically there’s a gulf between truth and untruth, I don’t want to be too mathematical about it, because I’m not very good at maths. But it’s a divide between, I dunno, a film and a cartoon. I’ve just become this cartoon character. I try not to follow it, but when you see pictures of yourself that have been photo-shopped to show you doing something you didn’t…. that’s wrong. It’s my worst nightmare – and being misquoted, too, especially as I’m so precious about words.”

Pete Doherty (1979) English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist

Speaking out on the media's caricature of him
People

Truth , Mathematics

“This is the visual world, using the most advanced advertising techniques that are familiar to the crowds in their daily life.... What kind of representational art do you want to inflict on these men then, when they’re solicited everyday by the cinema, radio, huge photo montages and advertising hoardings? How can you compete with these enormous modern mechanisms, which give you art to the 1000th degree?”

Fernand Léger (1881–1955) French painter

Quote, 1950, in: Fernand Léger - The Later Years, catalogue ed. Nicolas Serota, published by the Trustees of the Whitechapel Art gallery, London, Prestel Verlag, 1988, p. 58
Quotes of Fernand Leger, 1950's

Life , Men , World , Art

“There's a tremendous tendency not to make a statement, not to be committed in that ultimate sense. Photo-realism is the same thing as minimal abstraction. Both are unwilling to say anything about the nature of reality, about their own involvement with reality, the evolvement of forms, their expressive…their deepest involvement with human reality.”

Leonard Baskin (1922–2000) American sculptor

Leonard Baskin Interview (1996) Discussing the State of Contemporary Art. in: Don Gray " Art Essays, Art Criticism & Poems http://jessieevans-dongrayart.com/essays/essay028.html" at jessieevans-dongrayart.com

Nature , Reality , Sense

Quotes about photography

Best quotes about photography

Quotes about photography