QUOTES FROM FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS AND HOW TO APPLY THEM TO YOUR OWN WORK
One philosophy I have always tried to apply in my profession as a photographer and writer is to study and understand the work of other artists – not just photographers, but artists from all genres. The reason behind this is simple: when we begin to work in any field, itʼs human nature to copy what others do; otherwise, how else do we learn?
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“There are no bad pictures; thatʼs just how your face looks sometimes.” – Abraham Lincoln
Some jobs provide training, but in photography you are essentially on your own. You can learn theory at a college or even study online, but there are very few large companies employing photographers. Pretty much everything these days has gone freelance.
In a way, this is a good thing because it forces us to look around at what other people do in the same profession. And when you do that, you can perhaps try to discover why their images might work, while yours might not.
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
Cartier-Bresson is regarded as the father of street photography, and while thatʼs very true, when I was a photography student I found myself incredibly influenced by his work
for a different reason. At the time, I never thought of his images as ‘street photographyʼ; I just thought he had an incredible knack at capturing a visual ‘incidentʼ at just the right time.
This is what became known as ‘the decisive moment.ʼ Because of this frozen moment in time, his images often reflect a human quirkiness that Iʼve tried to emulate.
GARRY WINOGRAND
While on the subject of street photography, itʼs worth noting this quote from one of the most prolific street photographers, Garry Winogrand:
“Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.” – Garry Winogrand
When Winogrand died in 1984, his family discovered over 12,000 rolls of film that had either been exposed and not processed, or processed and not printed – a phenomenal legacy of work. He mostly lived and worked in New York around the time that two other very influential photographers were also working: Lee Friedlander and Dianne Arbus. At the time, all three were setting new creative boundaries for a medium that was fast gaining credibility in the artistic world. Leaving such a legacy is enough in itself, but it goes to show that this man was really driven to record life as he saw it on the streets. John Szarkowski, the Director of Photography at New Yorkʼs Museum of Modern Art, described Winogrand as “the central photographer of his generation.” High praise indeed. Even today, I think his work remains superbly inspirational and influential.
TONY RAY JONES
Tony Ray Jones was, to me at least, the quintessentially English version of a New York street photographer. His voyeuristic images on the English way of life owe a lot to his scholarship at the Yale University School of Art and the time he spent at Richard Avedonʼs Manhattan studio where he met two other developing street photographers: Garry Winogrand and Joel Meyerowitz.
“My aim is to communicate something of the spirit and the mentality of the English, their habits and their way of life, the ironies that exist in the way they do things, partly through their traditions and partly through the nature of their environment and their mentality. For me there is something very special about the English ‘way of lifeʼ and I wish to record it from my particular point of view before it becomes Americanised and disappears.” – Tony Ray Jones
Sage words indeed. Jones died prematurely at the age of 31. His death was, I think, a huge loss for Britain, a culture that has never been shy of self- examination. Itʼs not hard to see where Martin Parr got a lot of his influences from.
JEAN-LUC GODARD
When I was busy studying the art of creative photography many years ago in London, I became aware of the works of Jean-Luc Godard. Heʼs a French film director who produced several cutting- edge, or ‘New Waveʼ, movies back in the sixties, several of which featured upcoming stars like Jean- Paul Belmondo and Brigitte Bardot.
Movie making at the turn of that decade was somewhat pro- establishment, so Godard, always the political animal, made a name for himself producing films with distinctly political messages. He also broke from the norm, shooting with hand-held cameras and incorporating radically different editing methods in his productions, all of which created a kind of New Wave look, or ‘camára-stylo,ʼ using the lightweight movie camera as a writer would a pen.
At the time, I thought he was one of the best directors in this New Wave art scene, along with Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol.
This quote from Godard says it all: “Photography is truth.”
DON MCCULLIN
I read Don McCullinʼs autobiography Unreasonable Behavior several years ago, and it had a big impact on my impact on life because of his dogged commitment to recording the truth as he experienced it.
McCullin is probably best known for the images shot during his time covering wars in Indochina. You only have to see a smattering of his work to appreciate his sentiments when he said:
“Sometimes it felt like I was carrying pieces of human flesh back home with me, not negatives. Itʼs as if you are carrying the suffering of the people you have photographed.” – Don McCullin
Heʼs one of those unique people that can connect with his subjects, even when they are under the extreme duress of a war zone.
But what many might not appreciate is that he also worked on some truly amazing documentary projects well before Vietnam became headline news. He got his break when photographing a London gang called The Guvnors, which was published in the UKʼs Observer paper in 1958. This eventually led to an 18-year stint as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine, one of the last great newspapers to finance freelance photojournalism. He covered the Biafran War, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and wars in the Congo, Uganda, and Palestine. You name it, he was there. And despite being shot, blown up, burned, and imprisoned, he always returned with images that often spoke the unspeakable and depicted the unthinkable. Not many photographers have been that dedicated through an entire career. Many of his colleagues never were able to return home.
War photography is a tough, unrelenting, unforgiving, and extremely dangerous occupation. Amid the excruciating blandness of todayʼs lifestyle newspapers, I think itʼs vital to encourage this kind of reportage in order to maintain an edge between truth (whether itʼs pretty or not) and whatʼs fed to us today under the guise of news.
“Photography for me is not looking; itʼs feeling. If you canʼt feel what youʼre looking at, then youʼre never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” – Don McCullin
ELLIOTT ERWITT
Elliott Erwitt is another photographer who has given me great inspiration. Heʼs been a member of the prestigious group Magnum Photos since 1954, but, ironically, itʼs his off-duty images that have provided me with the most entertainment and inspiration. Erwitt snaps dogs everywhere he goes; heʼs even published five books on the subject.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. Itʼs about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... Iʼve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt
As with many great photographers, Erwitt shows his audience how to see through his camera work, not just by snapping pictures of canines, but in his clever juxtaposition of these animals living with humans and their environment. If you have ever had the pleasure of seeing his images, youʼll understand what he means in the quote above. The art of observation, profoundly exemplified in his work, is at the core of any photographic success, whether snapping something as mundane as a dog walking along a pavement, or an American president confronting a Russian supreme leader.
“The whole point of taking pictures,” he says, “is so that you donʼt have to explain things with words.” – Elliott Erwitt
How true.
ANDY WARHOL
Another art school hero of mine was Andy Warhol. Even today, I think most people would recognize his iconic screen print pictures, even if they might not necessarily know who created them. We just remember Campbellʼs soup cans and Marilyn Monroe.
Warhol was first and foremost an artist and demonstrated to the world that art was not just for the elite. His use of everyday images, photographed by himself – copied from magazines, newspapers, and even lifted from advertising material – could be elevated to the extraordinary through simple processes like silk screen printing, sculpture, film, and of course, mass production.
“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.” – Andy Warhol
What I found inspirational about Warhol is that he was always true to his ethos. You might not especially like what he produced, and a lot of people didnʼt, but, nevertheless, he continued to push the boundaries of art throughout the sixties, seventies, and eighties, right up to his untimely death in 1987.
JOE MCNALLY
Joe McNally is possibly one of the best commercial and editorial photographers around. His skill with lighting rigs, mostly set up in impossible-to-get-to locations, is legendary, and his resume says it all: National Geographic, Life, Sony, ESPN, Adidas, Landʼs End, Epson, and Sports Illustrated, just for starters.
What McNally teaches us is that itʼs not about the gear used to take the shots, itʼs how that gear is used thatʼs most important. His work takes him to the tops of very tall buildings, into cramped industrial sites, inside busy trauma centers, and strapped into military jets screaming across the prairies.
I have met the man several times and find that, despite his reputation, heʼs one of the most humble characters you could imagine. His shooting style relies a lot on combining artificial light with ambient light sources that are both short-lived and difficult to control, hence this quote, which basically says it all:
“Donʼt pack up your camera until youʼve left the location.” – Joe McNally
Sane words.
DAVID BAILEY
A final thought is from David Bailey, a UK photographer whose career as a social and fashion photographer skyrocketed during the ‘swinging sixtiesʼ in London.
This was an astonishingly creative period for many people living in the capital at that time. Actors and musicians socialized with artists, film makers, and photographers in a unique social mix that resulted in spreading British culture across the world stage. Bailey photographed everyone that was anyone, from HRH The Queen, to Mick Jagger, the Beatles, the Kray twins, Rudolph Nureyev, Cecil Beaton, Jean Shrimpton, Michael Caine, and many, many more personalities from that era.
“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.” – David Bailey
I love this quote from Bailey, partly because he had the gall to say it, and partly because itʼs true. No disrespect is intended for painters; he just says it like it is.
Comments