Best Inspirational & Motivational Photography Quotes.
Photography Quotes: Photography can be incredibly stressful and hard work, especially when you’re trying to put together your portfolio or impress the client of your dreams. Luckily, there are some motivational quotes that can help make all of the stress go away and get you pumped up to do some amazing work. Check out this list of 40+ best photography quotes with stunning images to help you focus on what’s important and get inspired at the same time. We’re sure these quotes will motivate you to keep going and never give up on your photography goals.
For the many people who love photography, these quotes and images are sure to be inspirational. For those of you who don’t know much about photography, these quotes will be informative as well as inspirational, giving you greater insight into one of the most artful and meaningful hobbies around.
What is photography? And what do famous photographers have to say about it?
Photography dates back to the first permanent photograph created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826, but there’s no better way to define what photography is than by hearing from those who have practiced it their entire lives. Here are just a few quotes from famous photographers on what photography means to them and what it does for the rest of us.
Photography Definition
In photography, a definition defines an image created by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It sounds simple enough, but defining photography isn’t as easy as you may think.
Photography Quotes
“A photograph always seems just out of reach—at once completely familiar and utterly foreign”. – Eudora Welty, American author.
“Being able to choose and change focus in a camera takes some of God’s power away from us. The greatest artists are painters who don’t know how to paint but capture light in their eyes, and poets who don’t know how to rhyme but keep time with their heartbeats”. – Anton Chekhov, was a Russian playwright, and short story writer.
A poet looks at a world that can be looked at any number of ways—and he says: ‘How beautiful it is that way’ – Wendell Berry, American farmer, and writer.
Some Inspiring Photography Quotes From Famous Photographers
A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know. – Diane Arbus
To take a good photograph, you need three things: timing, lighting, and a photographer. – Philippe Halsman
I love taking pictures; I love having taken them.
Always shoot from the shadow side.” – Ted Grant
“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.”
– George Eastman
“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.” – Paul Strand
“God creates the beauty. My camera and I are a witness.” – Mark Denman
“Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.” – Matt Hardy
“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.” – Lewis Hine
“Photography has been my way of bearing witness to the joy I find in seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.” -Harold Feinstein
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams
“The camera is much more than a recording apparatus, it is a medium via which messages reach us from another world.” – Orson Welles
“I never have taken a picture I’ve intended. They’re always better or worse.” – Diane Arbus
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…”– Eliott Erwitt
“Today everything exists to end in a photograph.” – Susan Sontag
“The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer.” – Steven Pinker
“It’s amazing how photography can capture just a split second of something exquisite.” – Kiera Cass
“The camera sees more than the eye, so why not make use of it?” – Edward Weston
“I love the people I photograph. I mean, they’re my friends. I’ve never met most of them or I don’t know them at all, yet through the image, I live with them.” – Bruce Gilden
“Photography is the simplest thing in the world, but it is incredibly complicated to make it really work.” – Martin Parr
“In photography, there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated.” – August Sander
“One advantage of photography is that it’s visual and can transcend language.”
– Lisa Kristine
“My camera is my passport.” – Steve McCurry
.” Photography, to me, is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true.”
– Jacques-Henri Lartigue
“The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.” – Susan Meiselas
“Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.” – Tony Benn
“It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.” – Alfred Eisenstaedt
“I like to photograph others before they know what their best angles are.” – Ellen Von Unwerth
“We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us.” – Ralph Hattersley
“Photography is an itch that won’t go away. No matter how much you scratch it.”
– Dara McGrath
“Photography is the recording of strangeness and beauty with beguiling precision.” – Sebastian Smee
“Life is like a camera. Just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, just take another shot.” – Anon
“Only photograph what you love.” – Tim Walker
The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” – Ernst Hass
“When I photograph, what I’m really doing is seeking answers to things.” – Wynn Bullock
“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” – Dorothea Lange
Every artist has a central story to tell, and the difficulty, the impossible task, is trying to present that story in pictures” – Gregory Crewdson
“I have always been fascinated by the poetic condition of twilight. By its transformative quality. Its power of turning the ordinary into something magical and otherworldly. “ – Gregory Crewdson
“Skill in photography is acquired by practice, and not by purchase.” -Percy W. Harris
“You photograph with all your ideology.” – Sebastiao Salgado
“Your inspiration is better if it comes from many different sources and your sensibilities will transform all those influences and inspiration into your own visual world. It’s like reading the book instead of watching the movie.” – Peter Lindbergh
Photography Tips
What’s in a photo? Everything. Capturing a moment in time that can be enjoyed over and over again is one of the most important aspects of professional photography. Using quotes from some of today’s top photographers, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson and others, we’ve put together an inspiring list of photo quotes that shows just how much powerful creativity relies on motivation. If you love taking pictures or want to take your skills to a new level, these words should be a part of your creative vocabulary. Read on for inspirational inspiration and photographic pointers.
“The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.” -Imogen Cunningham
“We see in color all the time. Black and white is therefore immediately an interpretation of the world, rather than a copy.” – Michael Kenna
“The golden rule in the arts, as far as I am concerned, is that all rules are meant to be broken.” -Michael Kenna
“If I have any ‘message’ worth giving to a beginner it is that there are no shortcuts in photography.” – Edward Weston
“After following the crowd for a while, I’d then go 180 degrees in the exact opposite direction. It always worked for me.” – Elliott Erwitt
“To me, photography must suggest, not insist or explain.” – Brassai
“Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.” ― Tony Benn
(On getting the laugh on the picture)”Keeping the camera on the face while talking. Of course, you look stupid but my job is not to look cool. My job is to make them look cool.” ― Jasmine Star
“If I can dig deeper and show more of who people are, aside from it being a wedding day, then I feel I’ve succeeded. Usually, at the end of the night, that comes out. The party’s over, and they one hundred percent become themselves.” ― Tyler Wirken
“I know what looks good. I don’t think you have an ugly side. I think you have a fear.” ― Jasmine Star
“Allow yourself to be surprised by your mistakes.” ― Fer Juaristi
Tips – How To Improve Your Photographs
It’s easy to think of your camera as a tool for recording reality; a device for accurately depicting what you see. It’s also easy, however, to forget that you’re in charge of how those images look. Photography doesn’t so much record life as it does an interpretation of life—and sometimes those interpretations are more interesting than life itself. So: how can you improve your photographs? Here are three great motivational photography quotes from some of our favorite photographers that might help give you some ideas on how to start getting more creative with your shots. Take a look at these quotes and try thinking about whether they would work well for a photograph, if they don’t then maybe you could write down another idea that would work better.
Also, Check out: 50+ Best Nature Quotes With Images
