20 Photography Quotes You Must Read

If there is one sure fire way to help inspire me in my photography, then it’s reading photography quotes from esteemed photographers and getting their view on the matter.

Don’t you think?

Whether they strike a cord with you, stir an emotion or just make you think, it is stimulating to hear how another person can explain or describe what photography is, or what it means to them.

I couldn’t pick a favourite, in fact these are probably my 20 favourite photography quotes (to date)!

Enjoy…

1. ‘I didn’t choose photography. Photography chose me.’ - Gerardo Suter

2. ‘Every other artist begins with a blank canvas, a piece of paper… the photographer begins with the finished product.’ — Edward Steichen

3. ‘Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.’ — Ansel Adams

4. ‘If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.’ -Robert Capa

5. ‘You don’t take a photograph you make it’ – Ansel Adams

6. ‘Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst’ – Henri Cartier -Bresson

7. ‘Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow’ – Imogen Cunningham

8. ‘I find the single most valuable tool in my darkroom is my trash can’ – John Sexton

9. ‘If I could tell you the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera’ – Lewis Hine

10. ‘If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there. you’ll only hear about it’ – Jay Maisel

11. ‘Photography helps people to see’ – Berenice Abbott

12. ‘A good snapshot stops a moment from running away’ – Eudora Welty

13. ‘Contrast is what makes photography interesting’ – Conrad Hall

14. ‘There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are’ - Ernst Haas

15. ‘If I have any ‘message’ worth giving to a beginner it is that there are no short cuts in photography.’ – Edward Weston

16. ‘I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn’ – Pablo Picasso

17. ‘There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs’ - Ansel Adams

18. ‘Seeing is not enough; you have to feel what you photograph’ – Andre Kertesz

19. ‘To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.’ – Elliott Erwitt

20. ‘If I knew how to take a good photograph, I’d do it every time.’ – Robert Doisneau

Do you have any more?

What are your favourite photography quotes…. feel free to add them in the comments below!

Mandy