Klein was also an innovative fashion photographer and made several films, including the first ever Muhammad Ali documentary and a feature length satire on the fashion world, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?

In this article we’ll be sharing our favorite William Klein quotes to help to your photography to the next level. If you find the article helpful, we would be grateful if you could share it with other photographers.

William Klein Quotes

Every photograph, I look at the contact, it brings back memories of everything, how I was feeling, tired, full of beans, photography is like that.

You look at a contact sheet with a magnifying glass and you see a shot, suddenly it all comes back – that was a nice day, you wanted a walk, your feet were hurting, you felt that you would hit on something.

I think there are two kinds of photography… If you look at modern photography, you will find, on the one hand the Weegees, the Diane Arbuses, the Robert Franks – funky photographs. And then you have the people who go out in the woods. Ansel Adams, Weston. It’s like black and white jazz.

I liked Cartier-Bresson’s pictures, but I didn’t like his set of rules. So I reversed them. I thought his view that photography must be objective was nonsense. Because the photographer who pretends he’s wiping all the slates clean in the name of objectivity doesn’t exist.

Anybody who pretends to be objective isn’t realistic.

How can photography be non-committal? Cartier-Bresson chooses the photograph this subject instead of that, he blows up another shot of the subject, and he chooses another one for publication. He’s making a statement. He’s making decisions and choices every second. I thought, if you’re doing that, make it show.

I have a special relationship with God. And when I take the right photograph, God gives me a little bing! in the camera. And then I know I’m on the right track.

I find if I look back that half of everything I’ve done is chance.

My photographs are the fragments of a shapeless cry that tries to say who knows what… What would please me most is to make photographs as incomprehensible as life.

Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even it is clumsy, that doesn’t look like somebody else’s work.

William Klein Quotes

Klein on Street Photography

I went out on the street and I just photographed the shit out of New York. I was free to do what I wanted and I didn’t know that I was doing anything revolutionary. I was fascinated with faces, and I would go into crowds and really take photographs point-blank and nobody would look at me.

Robert Capa said, “If you’re photograph is not good, it’s because you’re not close enough.” I heard that many years after the way I had discovered how I wanted to take photographs or film.

I was very consciously trying to do the opposite of what Cartier-Bresson was doing. He did pictures without intervening. He was like the invisible camera. I wanted to be visible in the biggest way possible.

I was taking pictures for myself. I felt free. Photography was a lot of fun for me. First of all I’d get really excited waiting to see if the pictures would come out the next day. I didn’t really know anything about photography, but I loved the camera.

I wanted to “own” what I was seeing. By accumulating documents about people I came across in the streets, or by combining people, objects around them, places… I was under the impression that I owned all that, that everything belonged to me, that it was mine. Later, the darkroom allowed me to express this ownership on a sheet of light-sensitive photographic paper. So, there was this relationship, and this “photographic shot” side that was not unpleasant. We point, we cock, we shot… And that’s it, to a certain extent, it’s like killing the subject by owning him, by freezing the subject in time and space. Do we not say “shoot” in English?

With all these so-called great photographers – Cartier-Bresson and Doisneau – everything is so hunky dory.

Rather than catching people unaware, they show the face they want to show. Unposed, caught unaware, they might reveal ambiguous expressions, brows creased in vague internal contemplation, illegible, perhaps meaningless. Why not allow the subject the possibility of revealing his attitude toward life, his neighbor, even the photographer? Both ways are valid to me.

In any case, very often people did things I couldn’t have organized or imagined. A mother points a toy gun at her child’s temple. Maybe I asked her to do it, I honestly forget. But lets say I did, out of some perverse inspiration. At the same time, though, she holds the child’s hand in the most tender, touching way.

The way a subject reacts to the camera can create a kind of happening. Why pretend the camera isn’t there? Why not use it? Maybe people will reveal themselves as violent or tender, crazed or beautiful. But in some way, they reveal who they are. They’ll have taken a self-portrait.

A lot of people in my photographs either look at me, or there is somebody to the side who is looking at the group and saying, “What is this guy photographing?” It wasn’t usual at that time. This was 1955, ’54. It was kind of surprising for a lot of people to see me photographing them.

I feel like I’m doing something that’s worthwhile. I feel like I’m showing something other people haven’t shown. I don’t get to talk to the people who I photograph, I just go, along, banging away. So I don’t really have a relationship with them. A lot of people think it’s very important. I don’t. It’s like love at first sight. I have an impression when I see somebody, and I have an idea of who they are, or what they are.

I’m not innvisible, but I don’t make a deal out of taking photographs, so people don’t really feel my presence… I do things very normally and find that’s the best way to work.

I don’t roam around with a camera and never did. I took pictures in spurts, for my books, for some assignments or on special occasions. Like people who take out their cameras for Christmas and birthdays. Each time, like them, probably, I feel it’s the first time and as if I would have to relearn the moves. Luckily, it comes pretty fast, like riding a bike.

Photographing Cities

The idea of having these cities as the subject of the book was something that came naturally. It became a specialty of mine to do books on cities. So I did about seven cities.

Having lived in France for several years, I thought I had one eye that was European and one that was a street-smart New Yorker.

If I went to Moscow, it’s because I wanted to see how people in a socialist country [were] living, and I hope that the photographs I took would make sense to people… to Russians… to everybody.

I’ve noticed that in general the Paris of photographers… was romantic, foggy and above all, ethnically homogeneous. But for me, Paris was, as much as and perhaps more than New York, a melting pot. A cosmopolitan city, multicultural and totally multiethnic, whatever Le Pen thinks.

In Tokyo [the camera] was more of a mask, a disguise. I had only the vaguest clue to what was going on. I wasn’t there to judge anything. I was an outsider and felt pretty uncomfortable sometimes. Have you ever eaten an official Japanese dinner for four hours on your knees? It was different in New York.

I would say looking back that the book I did [on] New York was my favorite.

William Klein Quotes

Klein’s New York Book

I thought New York had it coming, that it needed a kick in the balls. When I returned to New York, I wanted to get even. Now I had a weapon, photography.

Before my book on New York, I was a painter. When I came back to the city in 1954, after six years away, I decided to keep a photographic diary of my return. These were practically my first ‘real’ photographs. I had neither training nor complexes. By necessity and by choice, I decided that anything would have to go.

In a way its true I had a lot of old scores to settle. I was involved. According to the Henri Cartier-Bresson scriptures, you’re not to intrude or editorialize, but I don’t see how that’s possible or why it should be. I loved and hated New York. Why shut up about it?

The New York book was a visual diary and it was also kind of personal newspaper. I wanted it to look like the news. I didn’t relate to European photography. It was too poetic and anecdodtal for me… The kinetic quality of New York, the kids, dirt, madness… I tried to find a photographic style that would come close to it. So I would be grainy and contrasted and black. I’d crop, blur, play with the negatives. I didn’t see clean technique being right for New York. I could imagine my pictures lying in the gutter like the New York Daily News.

I saw the book I wanted to do as a tabloid gone berserk, gross, grainy, overinked, with a brutal layout, bull-horn headlines. This is what New York deserved and would get.

In rough neighborhoods in New York [sometimes]… it’s better not to look. So if you point a camera at a stranger, you’re almost breaking a tradition of not getting involved. Yet in a way, the camera erases involvement. Its accepted.

They didn’t know I might be photographing a hundred other things going on behind them – someone lurking in the background, a shadow, a reflection, posters, traffic, junk. [I’d say], ‘Hold it! Don’t move! Hey, look this way!’ People would say, ‘What’s this for?” I’d say, ‘The News.’ ‘The News! Wow! No shit!’ I didn’t much care.

In New York I took responsibility for the people I photographed. I felt I knew them – the people, the way they relate to each other, the streets, the buildings, the city. And I tried to make sense of it all. I just photographed what I saw though its true I used the camera as a weapon in New York.

It was a period of incredible excitement for me – coming to terms with myself, with the city I hated and loved, and with photography. Every day for months I was out gathering evidence. I made up the rules as I went along and they suited me fine.

I was a make believe ethnographer: treating New Yorkers like an explorer would treat Zulus – searching for the rawest snapshot, the zero degree of photography.

William Klein Quotes

Finding a Publisher for the Book

I spent six months in New York at that time and thought I had a book. So I went to publishers here, in New York, and got nowhere. Most of the people who looked at the photographs looked at the work and said “What kind of book is this? You make New York look like a slum.” I said, “Yeah, New York is a slum.” “What kind of New York are you showing me, everything black and awful?” I said, “No, you live on Fifth Avenue and your office is on Madison. You’ve never been to the Bronx, you’ve never been to Queens or Flatbush. This is the real New York.

In the 1950s I couldn’t find an American publisher for my New York pictures. Everyone I showed them to said, “Ech! This isn’t New York – too ugly , too seedy and too one-sided.” They said, “This isn’t photography, this is shit!”

The layout of my first book was directly inspired by a journal, a tabloid called “New York Daily News” and that was published every day in 3 million copies…That’s how I conceived all my other books, as an extension of a photographic journal across the globe.

The resulting book went against the grain thirty years ago. My approach was not fashionable then nor is it it today.

Photogpedia is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases.

Recommended book: William Klein: New York 1954-55

Klein’s New York book is one of the most influential photobooks ever published. His black and white, grainy images perfectly capture the energy of the city and take the viewer on a journey around the neighbourhoods of ’50s New York.

William Klein on Fashion Photography

Fashion came into my life by accident. Liberman had seen an exhibition that I had and he said, “I like what you are doing. Why don’t you come and talk to me at Vogue and we’ll see what we can do together.” I didn’t start making fashion photographs for Vogue. I was financed by Vogue to do this book on New York. As far as fashion was concerned, Liberman said to me at one point, “we are financing these wonderful photos you are taking in the street but we are a fashion magazine. So why don’t you try your hand at fashion?”

I had no idea how to start. I started to look at the fashion magazines, and what was being done. I discovered Penn and Avedon, and for me these were the ideal photographers. For me it was a golden era.

When I started to pose the question of how to take a fashion photograph, I would have to imagine certain things and I had a couple of ideas that I used. And I never used the technique I had of taking street photographs, because I thought that would cheapen the other work, so I tried to invent things which would be specifically fashion photographs, done in a specific way.

[On Vogue magazine fashion editors] I never went to those meetings – all those women with hats and thick glasses.

Mirrors. I thought that if I have mirrors, then I could shoot the girls on the mirrors. Shoot from the back and I would have a composite photograph.

I discovered working with a telephoto lens was something that I dug. Went out onto the streets with these girls, and told them to cross the street and mix in with traffic and people. And that was the first real, big assignment I gave myself.

I like these situations where things just developed.

[on his most famous fashion photo] I had these girls walking back and forth, doing double-takes because they more or less had the same dress. I was experimenting… with a tele-photo. Nobody could see me. I was half-way up the steps. These men didn’t understand. They thought they were hookers. They walked up and started feeling their ass. The editor from Vogue started panicking and she said, “We’re going to create a scandal.” So we had to stop.

All the photographic stores were besieged by photographers, buying telephoto lenses for their fashion shoots. I think it’s a good idea. I still think it’s a good idea.

[on Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?] The film isn’t about fashion, it’s about media. Fashion is part of media. It is also something which is pretty funny, graphic and inventive. I thought, “lets do a film on fashion.”

William Klein on Photography Technique

I photographed the panels, and the light wasn’t very good, so the exposure was long, and I had Jan my wife Jan, turn panels while I photographed, and I saw these geometrical forms, which blurred, and I thought, well, maybe this is something new. And I had the idea that if I had a negative, I could do anything with it.

Quite deliberately, I did the opposite to what was usually done. I thought that an absence of framing, chance, use of the accidental and a different relationship with the camera would make it possible to liberate the photographic image. There are some things that only a camera can do. The camera is full of possibilities as yet unexploited. But that is what photography is all about. The camera can surprise us. We must help it do so.

I would look at my contact sheets and my heart would be beating, you know. To see if I’d caught what I wanted. Sometimes, I’d take shots without aiming, just to see what happened. I’d rush into crowds – bang! Bang! I liked the idea of luck and taking a chance, other times I’d frame a composition I saw and plant myself somewhere, longing for some accident to happen.

Choosing location, maybe a symbolic spot, the light and perspective – and suddenly you know the moment is yours. It must be close to what a fighter feels after jabbing and circling and getting hit, when suddenly theres an opening, and bang! Right on the button. It’s a fantastic feeling.

If you look carefully at life, you see blur. Shake your hand blur is a part of life. But why must a photograph be a mirror?

I had neither training nor complexes. By necessity and choice, I decided that anything would have to go. A technique of no taboos: blur, grain, contrast, cock-eyed framing, accidents, whatever happens.

I have always loved the amateur side of photography, automatic photographs, accidental photographs with uncentered compositions, heads cut off, whatever. I incite people to make their self-portraits. I see myself as their walking photo booth.

Photography Equipment Quotes

When I started, I only had two lenses: a 50mm and a 135mm. I was very frustrated with the 50 mm and the telephoto lens. I could not put enough things, not enough people in the photo. So I went to a shop and the salesman made me try a 28mm. I immediately went outside and started taking pictures, and I was able to get as close as I wanted to things and people, whilst adding all I wanted in the frame, whilst staying sharp. It was my beginnings with a 28mm, it was a good length. I don’t know if it still exists.

The right filter, the right film, the right exposure – none of that interested me very much. I had only one camera to start with. Secondhand two lenses no filter, none of that. What interested me was getting something on film to put into an enlarger, maybe to get another picture. And I was in a big hurry. Once I got used to everything in New York I knew the trance would wear off. So I took pictures with a vengeance.

I used the wide-angle lens as a normal lens. I had no philosophy about it. When I looked in the viewfinder and realized I could see all the contradictions and confusion that was there with the wide-angle – that was what was great.

I photograph what I see in front of me, I move in close to see better and use a wide-angle lens to get as much as possible in the frame.

I’m not deliberately distorting. I need the wide-angle to get a lot of things into the frame. Take the picture of may day in Moscow. With a 50mm jammed between the parade and the side-walk, I would have been able to frame only the old lady in the middle. But what I wanted was the whole group – the tartars, the Armenians, Ukranians, Russians, an image of empire surrounding one old lady on a sidewalk as a parade goes by.

Most things I did with photography are considered acceptable today – except maybe this use of a wide-angle. It seemed more normal to me than the 50mm lens. You could even say the 50mm is an imposition of a limited point of view. But neither lens is really normal or correct. Because in life we see out of two eyes, whereas the camera has only one. So whatever lens is used, all photographs are deformations of what you actually see with your eyes.

The Anti-Photograph

In photography, I was interested in letting the machine loose, in taking risks, exploring the possibilities of film, paper, printing in different ways, playing with exposures, with composition and accidents. Its all part of what an image can be, which is anything. Good pictures, bad pictures – why not?

I came from the outside, the rules of photography didn’t interest me… there were things you could do with a camera that you couldn’t do with any other medium… grain, contrast, blur, cock-eyed framing, eliminating or exaggerating grey tones and so on. I thought it would be good to show what’s possible, to say that this is as valid of a way of using the camera as conventional approaches.

So who can pin down photography? We’re drunk with images. [Sontag’s] sick of it. I’m sick of it. But we’re moved by old amateur photographs because they aren’t concerned about theories of photography or what a picture must be. They’re just photographs without rules or dogma.

I have always done the opposite of what I was trained to do… Having little technical background, I became a photographer. Adopting a machine, I do my utmost to make it malfunction. For me, to make a photograph is to make an anti-photograph.

What’s your Favorite William Klein Quote?

Have a favorite William Klein quote from the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

Don’t forget to bookmark this page, or print it out, and refer to it next time you need some inspiration. If you’ve enjoyed the article, we would be grateful if you could share it with other photographers.

To see more of Klein’s remarkable street and fashion photography, check his artist profile at ArtNet.

Looking for more words of wisdom from master photographers? Visit the quotes section of Photogpedia for more great photography quotes.

Related Quote Articles:

• Daido Moriyama Quotes
• Henri Cartier-Bresson Quotes
• Bill Brandt Quotes
• Street Photography Quotes

The post 70 William Klein Quotes: Rewriting the Rules of Photography appeared first on Photogpedia.

Ernst Haas Quotes

With photography a new language has been created. Now for the first time it is possible to express reality by reality. We can look at an impression as long as we wish, we can delve into it and, so to speak, renew past experiences at will.

We can write the new chapters in a visual language whose prose and poetry will need no translation.

Photography is a bridge between science and art. It brings to science what it needs most, the artistic sense, and to art the proof that nothing can be imagined which cannot be matched in the counterpoints of nature.

In every artist there is poetry. In every human being there is the poetic element. We know, we feel, we believe.

Photography is a transformation, not a reproduction.

Don’t take pictures. Be taken by your pictures.

A picture is the expression of an impression. If the beautiful were not in us, how would we ever recognize it?

You see what you think, you see what you feel, you are what you see If with the camera you can make others see it – that is photography.

All I wanted was to connect my moods with those of Paris. Beauty paints and when it painted most, I shot.

Ernst Haas on Photography Style

Style has no formula, but it has a secret key. It is the extension of your personality; the summation of this indefinable net of your feeling, knowledge, and experience.

You become things, you become an atmosphere, and if you become it, which means you incorporate it within you, you can also give it back. You can put this feeling into a picture. A painter can do it. And a musician can do it and I think a photographer can do that too and that I would call the dreaming with open eyes.

I prefer to be noticed some day, first for my ideas and second for my good eye.

Bored with obvious reality, I find my fascination in transforming it into a subjective point of view. Without touching my subject I want to come to the moment when, through pure concentration of seeing, the composed picture becomes more made than taken. Without a descriptive caption to justify its existence, it will speak for itself – less descriptive, more creative; less informative, more suggestive; less prose, more poetry.

To express dynamic motion through a static moment became for me limited and unsatisfactory. The basic idea was to liberate myself from this old concept and arrive at an image in which the spectator could feel the beauty of a fourth dimension, which lies much more between moments than within a moment. In music one remembers never one tone, but a melody, a theme, a movement. In dance, never a moment, but again the beauty of a movement in time and space.

There are almost too many possibilities. Photography is in direct proportion with our time: multiple, faster, instant. Because it is so easy, it will be more difficult. We can photograph almost anything. There is a photographic explosion in the world – it’s the glamour profession. Anybody taking pictures can copy trends or styles.

Haas on Color Photography

Take color as a totality of relations within a frame. Don’t ever overanalyze your results! Color is joy. One does not think joy. One is carried by it.

Beware of color theories. Theories in color photography are dangerous. The plain fact that there are so many of them proves my point. A color philosophy comes much closer to the truth.

There have never been conflicting thoughts within me about black and white versus color photography. The change came quite naturally. I was longing for it, needed it; I was ready for it, and there was a film available to work with. The year was 1949, and the film was Kodak I, rated at 12 ASA.

I still do not understand all these problematic discussions about color versus black and white. I love both, but they do speak a different language within the same frame. Both are fascinating.

There are black and white snobs, as well as color snobs. Because of their inability to use both well, they act on the defensive and create camps. We should never judge a photographer by what film he uses – only by how he uses it.

Color does not mean black and white plus color. Nor is black and white just a picture without color. Each needs a different awareness in seeing and, because of this, a different discipline. The decisive moments in black and white and color are not identical.

There are three different factors which have to be realized and balanced: form, content, and color. The last does not always benefit the composition. It can even go against it, in which case it has to be overcome. To translate a world of color into black and white is much easier than to overcome the color, which so often runs contrary to its subject matter.

The Life of a Photographer

Every work of art has its necessity, find out your very own. Ask yourself if you would do it if nobody would ever see it, if you would never be compensated for it, if nobody ever wanted it. If you come to a clear “yes,” in spite of it, then go ahead and don’t doubt it anymore.

There are two kinds of photographers – the ones who take pictures for a magazine to earn something, and the others who gain by taking pictures they are interested in. I am the second kind. I don’t believe in the in-between success of becoming famous as quickly as possible. I believe in the end-success of a man’s work as developing into a real human being, aware of the connection in life between earth and the cosmos; a person able to understand the mistakes, and to admire the achievements, of other people.

Personally, I don’t even believe so much in the value of a single picture anymore. I don’t really photograph for the wall. To compete with the painter is not really our destiny; we are on the way to speaking our very own language. With it we will have to create our own literature. you will have to decide for yourself what kind of works you want to create. Reports of facts, essays, poems – do you want to speak or to sing?

There are two kinds of photographers: those who compose pictures and those who take them. The former work in studios. For the latter, the studio is the world… For them, the ordinary doesn’t exist: every thing in life is a source of nourishment.

I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new. In this way I am a photographer with the problems of a painter, the desire is to find the limitations of a camera so I can overcome them.

I have always felt better taking a risk than an easier route for what I believe in

Important is the end result of your work: the opus. Therefore, I want to be remembered much more by a total vision than a few perfect single pictures.

The artist must express the summation of his feeling, knowing and believing through the unity of his life and work.

Only a vision – that is what one must have.

Ernst Haas Quotes for Better Photography

A young photographer talked to me one day about his desire to liberate himself from his own sense of composition. I understood his problem as we all would love sometimes to be free from our own knowledge. It is even the most difficult to unlearn – as the most important problems are. I advised him to photograph with his eyes closed, just using his ears for directions.

If you photograph blind to abandon your sense of composition you have to edit the same way. It is the only way to solve your problem.

You don’t take pictures; the good ones happen to you.

There is no formula. There are only confirmations to formulas which one has already discovered oneself.

A picture can be an answer as well as a question but if you can’t answer your question try to question your question… There can be questions without answers but no answers without questions.

Beware of direct inspiration. It leads too quickly to repetitions of what inspired you.

Learn by doing or even better unlearn by doing. The opposite of what you learned. The paradoxical fact in the aesthetic is that theories are also true in reverse.

My theory of composition? Simple: do not release the shutter until everything in the viewfinder feels just right.

The best pictures differentiate themselves by nuances… a tiny relationship – either a harmony or a disharmony – that creates a picture.

The final stage of photography is transforming an object from what it is into what you want it to be.

Don’t park. Highways will get you there, but I tell you, don’t ever try to arrive. Arrival is the death of inspiration.

Ernst Haas Quotes on Equipment

Leica, schmeica. The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to see.

The camera only facilitates the taking. The photographer must do the giving in order to transform and transcend ordinary reality. The problem is to transform without deforming. He must gain intensity in form and content by bringing a subjective order into an objective chaos.

Living in a time of the increasing struggle of the mechanization of man, photography has become another example of this paradoxical problem of how to humanize, how to overcome a machine on which we are thoroughly dependent… the camera.

Best wide-angle lens? Two steps backward. Look for the ‘ah-ha’.

The most important lens you have is your legs.

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.

What Camera Did Ernst Haas Use?

Before Haas adopted the Leica, he used a Rolleiflex for early black and white photography work in Vienna. In the 1950s, he switched to Leica, which he continued to use for the rest of his career. His first Leica was the IIIf, then an M3. During the 1970s, he used a Leicaflex SL & SL2. Haas tended to favor the 28, 50 and 90 mm lenses, although he would use anything from 21mm to 180mm depending on the assignment.

For film, Haas was a big fan of Kodachrome. He first used the original Kodachrome, but was forced to use Kodachrome II from 1962 onwards when the original film was discontinued.

What’s your Favorite Ernst Haas Quote?

Have a favorite Ernst Haas quote from the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

Don’t forget to bookmark this page, or print it out, and refer to it next time you need some inspiration. Also, don’t forget to share it with others through the usual channels (social media, forums, websites, etc).

To see more of Hass’s wonderful color photography, check out the image archive on the Ernst Haas Foundation website.

Looking for more words of wisdom from master photographers? Visit the quotes section of Photogpedia for more great photography quotes.

Related Quote Articles:

• Henri Cartier-Bresson Quotes
• Bill Brandt Quotes
• William Eggleston Quotes
• Street Photography Quotes

The post 50 Ernst Haas Quotes on Color and Visual Poetry appeared first on Photogpedia.

If you haven’t done so already, we recommend reading our Michael Kenna master profile article to learn more about his photography style, techniques, cameras, use of film and much more.

Michael Kenna Quotes

Getting photographs is not the most important thing. For me, it’s the act of photographing. It’s enlightening, therapeutic, and satisfying because the very process forces me to connect with the world. When you make four-hour exposures in the middle of the night, you inevitably slow down and begin to observe and appreciate more what’s going on around you. In our fast-paced, modern world, it’s a luxury to be able to watch the stars move across the sky.

Perhaps most intriguing of all is that it is possible to photograph what is impossible for the human eye to see – cumulative time.

In photography, it’s not difficult to reach a technical level where you don’t need to think about the technique any more. I think there is far too much literature and far too much emphasis upon the techniques of photography. The make of camera and type of film we happen to use has little bearing on the results.

There is no one way of photographing anything. I don’t believe there is even one best way of photographing any given subject.

The golden rule in the arts, as far as I am concerned, is that all rules are meant to be broken.

I would strongly encourage anybody embarking on photography as a career to embrace and enjoy the whole process. Being a photographer can be a wonderful way to experience the world.

Easier is not necessarily better.

I am not interested in describing and copying what I see. I am interested in a collaboration with the subject matter.

Landscape Photography Quotes

As a landscape photographer we should be open to possibilities, for one thing often leads to another.

I often think of my work as visual haiku. It is an attempt to evoke and suggest through as few elements as possible rather than to describe with tremendous detail.

I don’t think it is even possible to define what a good photograph is, so it is difficult to instruct anybody how to make one. Beauty and aesthetics are subjective, and very much in the mind of the beholder.

I encourage playfulness and experimentation with both the camera and subject matter. Sometimes there is an obvious perspective, but it is important never to be satisfied with that.

I try not to make conscious decisions about what I am looking for. I don’t make elaborate preparations before I go to a location. Essentially I walk, explore, discover and photograph.

Michael Kenna Quotes on Finding Locations

I often use the analogy of a theatre stage. I prefer to photograph the stage before the characters appear, and after they leave.

Essentially, I look for what is interesting to me, out there in the three-dimensional world, and translate or interpret so that it becomes visually pleasing in a two-dimensional photographic print. I search for subject matter with visual patterns, interesting abstractions, and graphic compositions.

I enjoy places that have mystery and atmosphere, perhaps a patina of age, a suggestion rather than a description, a question or two. I look for memories, traces, evidence of the human interaction with the landscape. Sometimes I photograph pure nature, sometimes urban structures.

Parks and gardens are the quintessential intimate landscapes. People use them all the time, leaving their energy and memories behind. It’s what’s left behind that I like to photograph.

In my photographic work, I’m generally attracted to places that contain memories, history, atmospheres, and stories. I’m interested in the places where people have lived, worked, and played. I look for traces of the past, visual fingerprints, evidence of activities – they fire my imagination and connect into my own personal experiences.

I gravitate towards places where humans have been and are no more, to the edge of man’s influence, where the elements are taking over or convering man’s traces.

Different assignments, different places, require different approaches. Sometimes I take minutes in a location, at other times days. There are many places that I have returned to over several years. When I photograph, I look for some sort of resonance, connection, spark of recognition.

Patience and Time

Approaching subject matter to photograph is like meeting a person and beginning a conversation. How does one know ahead of time where that will lead, what the subject matter will be, how intimate it will become, how long the potential relationship will last? Certainly, a sense of curiosity and a willingness to be patient to allow the subject matter to reveal itself are important elements in this process.

Most people are content just to take instant photographs and put them out into the world very quickly and easily. There are always going to be some who take the time and delve deeper. It’s a bit like using Garageband on the computer. You can make music very quickly, but to really master an instrument takes years.

Instant gratification in photography is not something that I need or desire. I find that the long, slow journey to the final print captivates me far more.

Most of my work involves slowing down rather than speeding up. I prefer to look at prints than scans, and I prefer to look at original silver prints rather than digital prints. I prefer to look at fewer images, but spend time with those individual images.

Returning to the Same Location

The first time, I usually skim off the outer layer and end up with photographs that are fairly obvious. The second time, I have to look a little deeper. The images get more interesting. The third time it is even more challenging and on each subsequent occasion, the images should get stronger, but it takes more effort to get them.

I prefer to think of photography as a never ending journey with infinite possibilities. I love to return to places to re photograph. Nothing is ever the same. The options are endless.

Accidents and Chance

Life is about turning up. The more you get yourself out there, whether you wake up at 5:00 a.m. to pouring rain or not, the more you’re likely to experience the wonderful happenings that are going on all around you. Sometimes the most interesting visual phenomena occur when you least expect it. Other times, you think you’re getting something amazing and the photographs turn out to be boring and predictable. So I think that’s why, a long time ago, I consciously tried to let go of artist’s angst, and instead just hope for the best and enjoy it. I love the journey as much as the destination. If I wasn’t a photographer, I’d still be a traveler.

There can be no doubt that probability increases with practice. Fortune favours the brave, fortune favours the prepared mind, and fortune favours those who work the hardest.

One needs to fully accept that surprises sometimes happen and complete control over the outcome is not necessary or even desirable.

Many of my stronger photographs are the result of my option not to pre-visualize. I believe that it’s important to allow the possibility of an accident and not be too controlling.

We have infinite options of how to photograph something. That extends into the darkroom afterwards. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t gone over to digital. I prefer the slowness, the unpredictability, the complications. You never know what you have. It’s like the excitement of opening up a Christmas package when you get your negatives back.

For me, this is one of the advantages of not using digital, I never know when I have a good photograph! I practice doubt as a way to push myself into alternative compositions by selective focus, different speeds of exposure, and unusual perspectives.

Night Photography

There are many characteristics associated with night photography that make it fascinating. We are used to working with a single light source, the sun, so multiple lights that come from an assortment of directions can be quite surreal, and theatrical. Drama is usually increased with the resulting deep shadows from artificial lights. These shadows can invite us to imagine what is hidden. I particularly like what happens with long exposures, for example, moving clouds produce unique areas of interesting density in the sky, stars and planes produce white lines, rough water transforms into ice or mist, etc. Film can accumulate light and record events that our eyes are incapable of seeing. The aspect of unpredictability inherent with night exposures can also be a good antidote for previsualization…

Camera Equipment and Film

I have a backpack and that determines how many cameras I carry. I insist that I can carry what I use to photograph as I don’t usually have an assistant. The backpack can hold two 120 camera bodies, two film backs, and two viewfinders. One is metered through the lens and the other one is a waist level.

It’s possible to think of photography as an act of editing, a matter of where you put your rectangle pull it out or take it away. Sometimes people ask me about films, cameras and development times in order to find out how to do landscape photography. The first thing I do in landscape photography is go out there and talk to the land – form a relationship, ask permission, it’s not about going out there like some paparazzi with a Leica and snapping a few pictures, before running off to print them.

Craft is important, but cameras for their own sake are not. A sense of aesthetics, a connection with the subject matter, an enquiring, and an inquisitive mind, these factors outweigh whatever equipment we use.

If I had to give advice to other photographers, I would first suggest quickly getting over the camera equipment questions. In my humble opinion, the make and format of a camera is ultimately low on the priority scale when it comes to making pictures.

Of course, the whole photographic process has been made much faster, cleaner and far more accessible to people by digital innovations, which is really great. Everybody now has a camera, often as part of our phone, and most of these cameras require little to no technical training. An enormous variety of apps also enable us to take short cuts to finished images. We hardly need to even think anymore.

Everybody now has a camera, whether it is a professional instrument or just part of a phone. Landscape photography is a pastime enjoyed by more and more. Getting it right is not an issue. It is difficult to make a mistake with the sophisticated technology we now have. Making a personal and creative image is a far greater challenge.

I believe that every photographer, every artist, should choose materials and equipment based on their own vision. I don’t believe that non-digital is necessarily better than digital, or the reverse for that matter. They are just different, and it is my preference and choice to remain with the traditional silver process, at least for the time being.

Black and White Photography

We see in colour all the time. Everything around us is in colour. Black and white is therefore immediately an interpretation of the world, rather than a copy.

I use black and white film. For the most part, I use Kodak Tri-X. 400asa film. One of the nice things about this film is that it hasn’t changed much since I first started 40 years ago. It’s like an old friend; It’s flexible and forgiving, and easy to work with. That’s why I still use it. I also use other films depending on which country I am in and where I can buy the films. Tri-X is my old stand by.

I don’t have anything against colour. It is just not my first preference. I have always found black and white photographs to be quieter and more mysterious than those made in colour.

I find black and white to be more malleable and mysterious than color; it is more an interpretation of reality than a reflection of reality.

For me, the subtlety of black and white inspires the imagination of the individual viewer to complete the picture in the mind’s eye. It doesn’t attempt to compete with the outside world. I believe it is calmer and gentler than colour, and persists longer in our visual memory.

Michael Kenna Darkroom and Print Quotes

I believe printmaking is a critical component of the photographic process and I will always try to do it myself. The negative is raw material, which a skilled and creative printmaker can mold in a thousand different ways. There are many technical and aesthetic decisions to be made along the way, the sum of which makes a print unique and very personal.

Small prints have a greater feeling of intimacy – one looks into the print. Large prints are more awesome – they are something a viewer looks out at. I believe in fitting the print size to one’s particular vision and prefer the more intimate engagement of the smaller image.

Influences and Style Quotes

I sincerely believe it is normal and healthy to study the work of other artists, and even imitate other’s efforts, as a means to explore one’s personal vision. It has been thus throughout history in all mediums of creative expression. One advances by “standing on the shoulders of giants”. The perspective becomes a lot clearer from such high ground.

On my own journey, I have actively tried to see through the eyes of many well known photographers, including but not limited to Atget, Bernhard, Brandt, Callahan, Cartier Bresson, Giacomelli, Misrach, Scheeler, Steiglitz, Sudek, Sugimoto, Weston (Brett) and many others. I have gone to places where they have photographed and have consciously and unconsciously emulated their style and subject matter.

Other artists, in many mediums, have greatly helped my own development as a photographer. As small tokens of appreciation, I have often credited those influences openly by including their names in the titles of work. I have done this out of basic courtesy and respect. I do not feel that I have ever stolen from these artists.

My advice to any budding artist is never to be satisfied with imitating others. This is but a means to an end. A serious artist will work with intensity to discover themselves, their own personal vision. I believe this is a fundamental aspect of the creative path.

There are many aspects about what and why we photograph: visual pleasure, personal empathy, intellectual stimulation, technical excellence, etc. Serious photographers and artists will try to create works that are original. Over a career period they may develop a singular identity in their images.

The photographer Ruth Bernhard used to tell me that this is like asking somebody how they evolved their signature. It is not something I’ve ever worked on consciously. I think style is just the end result of personal experience. It would be problematic for me to photograph in another style. I’m drawn to places and subject matter that have personal connections for me and I photograph in a way that seems right. Where does it all come from, who knows?

I believe that we photographers don’t benefit very much with answers from other photographers. What is more beneficial is to ask questions of ourselves and see what thoughts float out from within.

I believe that photographers should be passionate, determined, disciplined and ready to seek out their own styles and identities.

What’s your Favorite Michael Kenna Quote?

Have a favorite Michael Kenna quote from the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

If you would like to learn more about Michael Kenna’s photography, we recommend reading our Michael Kenna profile article. To see more Kenna’s remarkable landscape work, check out the image archive on his official website.

Don’t forget to bookmark this page, or print it out, and refer to it next time you need some inspiration. Also, don’t forget to share it with others through the usual channels (social media, forums, websites, etc).

Looking for more words of wisdom from master photographers? Visit the quotes section of Photogpedia for more great photography quotes.

More Quote Articles:

• Ansel Adams Quotes
• Don McCullin Quotes
• Bill Brandt Quotes
• Landscape Photography Quotes

The post 52 Michael Kenna Quotes for Better Landscape Photography appeared first on Photogpedia.

Below we have put together a list of 57 quotes from the legendary photographer that are guaranteed to both inspire you and advance your photography to the next level.

If you haven’t done so already, we recommend reading our Steve McCurry master profile article to learn more about his iconic documentary, portrait and travel photography, working methods, cameras and much more.

Steve McCurry Quotes

The photograph is an undeniably powerful medium. Free from the constraints of language, and harnessing the unique qualities of a single moment frozen in time.

A still photograph is something which you can always go back to. You can put it on your wall and look at it again and again. Because it is that frozen moment. I think it tends to burn into your psyche. It becomes ingrained in your mind. A powerful picture becomes iconic of a place or a time or a situation.

Most photographers have at some time recognized a composition, perhaps a poster or something on the wall, and waited for a person or animal or car to complete the picture. There are times when you recognize a design or a composition, and you work it; if you think it’s worth it, you’ll wait for as long as it takes.

I think life is too short not to be doing something which you really believe in. Whether you’re photographing for yourself, for your job, whether you photograph on the weekends or everyday or once in a while, the main point is having fun and to be exercising your curiosity and to be really in love with what you are doing.

Not every picture is brilliant! A writer might write something that ends up just staying in the notebook, and for a photographer… you photograph some things that you know are just as a record or something that you know isn’t brilliant, but you get the wheels moving. Am I going to wait for the perfect picture before I start shooting? Well, how many perfect pictures are there in a lifetime? Get out and start examining the world.

The definition of a great picture is one that stays with you, one that you can’t forget. It doesn’t have to be technically good at all.

McCurry on Documentary Photography

I think good documentary photography, on its highest level, gets into a realm where you’ve tapped into some archetype of human connection. You’ve struck a chord in people that has tremendous meaning beyond the event itself.

Pictures that are memorable, that stick in the mind, are the best pictures. Sometimes I’m looking at pictures and there’s nothing going on; there’s no emotion.

I strive for individual pictures that will burn in people’s memories.

A picture can express a universal humanism, or simply reveal a delicate and poignant truth by exposing a slice of life that might otherwise pass unnoticed.

My photos are just a whimsical, poetic look at this commonality of humanity.

I think it’s better for people just to interpret, to make up their own story, to imagine their own meaning of whatever picture. Sometimes there is an ambiguity to the picture. Sometimes there is no meaning at all! But you make up a meaning, your own interpretation, your own story, your own fantasy — which is maybe better than the actual reality. Sometimes there’s a moment you think you can see in a picture which maybe is not really there. But if you think it’s that way, then that’s okay.

For me, great pictures are about storytelling. I want to learn something from the picture or want it to evoke some kind of emotion. I want it to take me somewhere.

Travel and Photography

My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.

If you want to be a photographer, first leave home.

There’s a contemplative or meditative quality to photography which I find to be a sort of peaceful state. I love being able to travel the world, experience different cultures and landscapes.

Travel and photography have always been intertwined. I think we have such a brief amount of time in this world that I can’t think of a better use of my time than to travel, to photograph the world, experience life in different places. To me, there’s nothing more important than that.

Related: The Best Travel Photography Quotes

You can’t get hung up on what you think your “real” destination is. The journey is just as important.

Some of the great pictures happen along the journey and not necessarily at your destination.

It was more about trying to find the essence of the place, what was unique. What was it about this place that made it intriguing? There’s no guarantee that you’re going to make good pictures just because you happen to be in an exotic location. The same rules of photography still apply: light and composition and a particular moment. You may be in an incredible place with an incredible story to tell, but you still have to craft it in a certain way.

You don’t need to spend six months or a year photographing everything that moves. You’re shooting stories, not novels. It’s better journalism and it needs more thought. For instance, you wouldn’t go to Brazil with the idea of shooting the whole country. You’d take less time and do a region, or maybe Rio.

Steve McCurry Quotes on Portraits

I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landscape, that you could call the human condition.

You have to try to get people to be relaxed, to be comfortable, and try to find a particular moment in your conversation with that person that says something about their personality, their character. You never quite know how it’s going, you’re working so fast with all these variables swirling around, it becomes instinctive and you have to work from your gut, maybe thinking less and working more from your heart.

Usually, when I’m shooting portraits they’re short encounters, and you’re dealing with all sorts of obstacles. It could be a busy street, it could be light which isn’t ideal. I think you just have to keep probing and shooting and sometimes it doesn’t come together for whatever reason, but other times it does.

I think people, when you first encounter them, they try and put on a particular mask. I don’t want people to try and look a certain way. I want them to be completely natural and just themselves, without kinda grinning, or smiling, or putting on some kind of silly expression.

You never quite know when the best moment is going to reveal itself. You shoot and there’s a moment that you think is interesting, you keep working and you never quite know when you’ve got it. It’s a mysterious process, I think.

In a portrait, you want something of that person to reveal itself. Some portraits look too controlled. I like to see the naked personality; I want to see something that is real and something that is raw. You don’t see the hand of the photographer; you see the uniqueness of that person.

If you wait, people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view.

The Afghan Girl Photograph

I spent about five minutes photographing her and then she quickly ran off to play with her friends. It was one of those cases, where all the elements of the picture came together in a magical way.

I can understand why it moves people: she’s mysterious, ambiguous. She’s beautiful, yet she’s troubled. She’s persevering, there’s a fortitude in her. She’s poor, but she’s not timid. It’s a picture you can come back to time and time again.

McCurry on his Working Process

As far as research goes, I don’t ever want to do too much of it because, if you go with too many preconceived notions, it can spoil things.

I try and set up my shooting day to be in a place where there is favorable light the whole day. In the morning, I might be outside. In late morning, I might be inside, so I’m always in a place where the light is working with me.

When I’m shooting for myself, I like to just walk out of the hotel in the morning and wander around enjoying the day, to get into the right frame of mind. Then, after a while, hopefully, I start to see things. Sometimes these magic moments happen and other times I can walk around all day and not see anything. In the end, you just have to average it out.

A lot of what I do is just wandering and observing. I might see someone on the street and feel there is some story written on his or her face.

We photographers say that we “take” a picture, and in a certain sense, that is true. We take something from people’s lives, but in doing so we tell their story.

Unconsciously, I think I watch for a look, an expression, features or nostalgia that can summarize or more accurately reveal life.

Use of Color

I think with color, the first point about color photography for me is not to let the color get in the way of telling your story. You don’t want someone looking at your picture and have the color be the main thing. I guess there are all sorts of styles and flavors of the month. A person has a set of rules, and someone else comes along and breaks them. It’s about whatever pleases you.

For me, I don’t want the picture to be about color, I want the picture to be about a particular story, about the personality, it’s got to be about the person and not the fact they’re wearing a bright red shirt with a red ribbon in their hair. That’s just me. Maybe someone else would see it completely different, but it’s more important to me to show the humanity of the person.

I think the way to identify a good color photograph is to ask yourself if you convert it to black and white does it still have interest? Does it still have value? If it’s a good picture, whether it’s been shot in color or in black and white, then it’s successful.

I’ve always worked in color. A lot of that is dictated by the marketplace. Certainly, the world’s in color. Color’s another dimension. A good color picture should be as graphic and have a sense of design the same way as a black-and-white picture. I also want some emotional content. I don’t want the picture to be only about color.

Steve McCurry Quotes on Equipment

[I have] virtually no interest in equipment – period. It’s not what motivates me. I don’t want to talk about gear. Any camera on sale today will give you wonderful results.

Manufacturers want to sell their cameras, and their ads are the same now as they were 30 or 40 years ago.

Just because people use Instagram and take cellphone pictures, it doesn’t mean the pictures are meaningful, anymore than a text someone sends a friend is great literature. Is it something that’s going to remain? Is it going to inspire us?

The unfortunate thing in life is that there is a lot of work involved, and often it’s tedious work. Some people buy a camera and wait around to get assignments. It’s wonderful they’re that naive. It’s like telling me you’ve got a first-aid kit so now you’re a brain surgeon. You have to find your own way.

The Life of a Photographer

When I left I was torn between stills and movie making and could have gone either way. What decided it was that I couldn’t get a job in the film industry, but did manage to get one on a newspaper. I’ve never regretted this decision.

I researched story ideas before I left and I hit the ground running. I was fascinated with the colour, vibrancy, culture, people, geography and the monsoons in India.

Every man, woman, and child has a camera, but that doesn’t mean they will make one meaningful picture. Around 99 percent of the images taken now are personal pictures. It’s consumed an enormous amount of my life to really develop a body of work. If you’re driven or compelled, you’ll do it, because it gives meaning.

There’s probably more photographers than the industry can sustain. But now you can literally build your own website. In a way you can say the same thing about writing – everyone can write, but the ones who have something to say rise to the surface. Virtually nobody wants to use the discipline required to write a book.

You put your work out there in the world and people respond to it in their own way. You can’t second-guess people, you know. People are going to respond and be drawn to certain music, certain movies and certain photographs and paintings. Nothing can be done.

In the end, you’re just judged on the work. People look at the work – a poem, photograph, sculpture, whatever – and they don’t think, ‘How many drafts went into this, was it edited, how long did it take, how many revisions?’ It’s just the work that matters – you put it on the table, and either it speaks to you or it doesn’t.

Steve McCurry’s Advice for Photographers

Look at the history of photography, go to a book store, look at some photography books. There’s so much incredible photography which has gone on in the last 50-75 years. You really need to know who some of these great photographers are.

You have to study their work. There’s a long, long list of wonderful work that we can all learn from and appreciate. I think some of these historical pictures we can actually even incorporate some of these techniques and ideas into our own work.

When a person is starting out they may not understand light or how most things will look like as a picture. I think the more experience you have, the more you start to see a scene or something on the street and understand how that’s going to photograph. That’s important, to understand what you’re looking at, how that’s going to look on a piece of paper.

Try and think outside the box. Don’t just photograph on a bright sunny day. Try and photograph at night in very low light. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be experimental. Whatever kind of photography you do, I think you have to experiment and try different things and see what works best for you and your type of photography. There’s no one answer.

What is important to my work is the individual picture. I photograph stories on assignment, and of course, they have to be put together coherently. But what matters most is that each picture stands on its own, with its own place and feeling.

Find a subject that you’re passionate about. It could be anything. It could be literally landscape, it could be portraits, it could be photographing whatever interests you, whatever you have a passion for. I think you’ll make better pictures if you believe in the subject, if you believe in the stories. If you’re a storyteller, do what you believe in and you’ll get the biggest benefit out of that.

It’s important for you to spend your time photographing things that matter to you. You need to understand the things that have meaning to you, and not what others think is important for you.

What’s your Favorite Steve McCurry Quote?

Have a favorite Steve McCurry quote from the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

Don’t forget to bookmark this page, or print it out, and refer to it next time you need some inspiration. Also, don’t forget to share it with others through the usual channels (social media, forums, websites, etc).

If you would like to learn more about Steve McCurry’s photography, we recommend reading our Steve McCurry master profile article. To see more of McCurry’s incredible photos, then check out the image archive on Steve McCurry’s website.

Looking for more words of wisdom from master photographers? Check out the quotes section of Photogpedia for more great photography quotes.

More Quote Articles:

• Don McCullin Quotes
• Henri Cartier-Bresson Quotes
• Bill Brandt Quotes
• Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Quotes

The post 57 Steve McCurry Quotes to Advance your Photography appeared first on Photogpedia.

More people than ever are documenting their travels through photographs, but creating images that capture the feel of a place and the spirit of its people can be challenging. 

So we decided to put together a list of over 100 of our favorite travel photography quotes. 

So without further ado, here’s our ultimate list of the best travel photography quotes. If you find it helpful then we would be grateful if you could share with others.

100+ Travel Photography Quotes

The most valuable things in life are a man’s memories. And they are priceless.

Andre Kertesz

My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.

Diane Arbus

Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.  

Ansel Adams

My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.

Steve McCurry

My vision of the world is simple. Tomorrow, each new day, I want to see the city, take new photographs, meet people and wander alone.  

Marc Riboud

Photography isn’t about just pushing that button. It’s about the experience of being there.

Don McCullin

Related: Landscape Photography Quotes

No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.

Robert Adams

The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

The world makes up my pictures, not me.

Lee Friedlander

Carrying a camera on vacation pretty much guarantees you won’t see anything worth shooting.  

Bob Krist

I think of myself as an explorer who has spent his life on a long voyage of discovery.

Paul Strand

Understanding Travel Photography

Travel and photography have always been intertwined. I think we have such a brief amount of time in this world that I can’t think of a better use of my time than to travel, to photograph the world, experience life in different places. To me, there’s nothing more important than that.

Steve McCurry

Most of the information we now get is through television and is mutilated. Photography offers the opportunity to spend much more time on a topic. It’s relatively cheaper medium, and can allow a photographer really to live in another place, show another reality, get closer to the truth.  

Sebastiao Salgado

Photography cannot change the world, but it can show the world, especially when it changes.  

Marc Riboud

If I go to a place, it’s not to record what is going on only. It’s to try and have a picture which concretizes a situation in one glance and which has the strong relations of shapes. And when I go to a country, well, I’m hoping always to get that one picture about which people will say, “Ah, this is true. You felt it right.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

I think of myself as a writer who photographs. Images, for me, can be considered poems, short stories or essays. And I’ve always thought the best place for my photographs was inside books of my own creation.

Sam Abell

A traveler seeks engagement with the local people and culture, while a sightseer just checks off sights in the guidebook. A sightseeing photographer stands apart from the culture, snapping pictures at a distance. A travel photographer becomes involved with his or her surroundings and the people; the resulting pictures become more intimate.

Jim Richardson

Finding your Subject and Story

I’m not an artist. An artist makes an object. Me, it’s not an object, I work in history, I’m a storyteller.

Sebastiao Salgado

Technique isn’t important. Technique is in the blood. Events and mood are more important than good light and the happening is what is important.  

Andre Kertesz

I used to try to figure out precisely what I was seeing all the time, until I discovered that I didn’t need to. If the thing is true, why there it is.

Walker Evans

I hope to bring back pictures from the world that open people’s eyes – pictures that suggest the enigmatic nature of the world we live in, as well as its variety, complexity, beauty, and pain.

Alex Webb

Related: Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Quotes

When I arrive at any place in the world I buy postcards because then you find out where all the places you should be are.

Norman Parkinson

Sometimes the most interesting visual phenomena occur when you least expect it. Other times, you think you’re getting something amazing and the photographs turn out to be boring and predictable. So I think that’s why, a long time ago, I consciously tried to let go of artists angst, and instead just hope for the best and enjoy it. I love the journey as much as the destination. If I wasn’t a photographer, Id still be a traveller.

Michael Kenna

Having a camera around your neck gives you a good excuse to be nosy.

Martin Parr

It was more about trying to find the essence of the place, what was unique. What was it about this place that made it intriguing? There’s no guarantee that you’re going to make good pictures just because you happen to be in an exotic location. The same rules of photography still apply: light and composition and a particular moment. You may be in an incredible place with an incredible story to tell, but you still have to craft it in a certain way.  

Steve McCurry

No matter what lens you use, no matter what speed the film, no matter how you develop it, no matter how you print it, you cannot say more than you can see.

Paul Strand

Never stop looking, no matter where you are, everywhere there are good photographs.

Art Wolfe

The Photo Project

I enjoy traveling and recording far-away places and people with my camera. But I also find it wonderfully rewarding to see what I can discover outside my own window. You only need to study the scene with the eyes of a photographer.  

Alfred Eisenstaedt

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

I never stay in one country more than three months. Why? Because I was interested in seeing, and if I stay longer I become blind.

Josef Koudelka

The golden rule is work fast. As for framing, composition, focus-this is no time to start asking yourself questions: you just have to trust your intuition and the sharpness of your reflexes.

Jacques-Henri Lartigue

I would strongly encourage anybody embarking on photography as a career to embrace and enjoy the whole process. Being a photographer can be a wonderful way to experience the world.

Michael Kenna

I very much like to work on long-term projects. There is time for the photographer and the people in front of the camera to understand each other. There is time to go to a place and understand what is happening there… When you spend more time on a project, you learn to understand your subjects. There comes a time when it is not you who is taking the pictures. Something special happens between the photographer and the people he is photographing. He realizes that they are giving the pictures to him.  

Sebastiao Salgado

The Process

Of all the photographs in The Americans, I think there were only two or three photographs where I did talk to the person, but most of the time I was completely silent, walking through the landscape, through the city, and photographing and turning away. Well, that is my temperament, to be silent, just looking on… What I liked about photography was precisely this: that I could walk away and I could be silent and it was done very quickly and there was no direct involvement.  

Robert Frank

People will never understand the patience a photographer requires to make a great photograph, all they see is the end result. I can stand in front of a leaf with a dewdrop, or a raindrop, and stay there for ages just waiting for the right moment. Sure, people think I’m crazy, but who cares? I see more than they do!

Alfred Eisenstaedt

Sometimes, I’d take shots without aiming, just to see what happened. I’d rush into crowds – bang! bang! … It must be close to what a fighter feels after jabbing and circling and getting hit, when suddenly there’s an opening, and bang! Right on the button. It’s a fantastic feeling.

William Klein

Related: Street Photography Quotes

I like discovery. I’m attracted to it. I like the feeling of going out, being at someplace, looking in at something. Observation is important.

Bruce Davidson

Don’t pack up your camera until you’ve left the location.

Joe McNally

I very rarely start photographing immediately. I like to walk and walk and walk. And the beach was nice because I can walk and unwind and then after a while start photographing. You can go to the sea where it’s beautiful and you are a part of it and I guess you want to let somebody else know about it.  

Harry Callahan

It may look like I’m just pointing the camera at what’s in front of me. But I’m trying to photograph what people see, but don’t notice – something that’s mysterious and unknown in everyday life.  

Daido Moriyama

A photographer must be prepared to catch and hold on to those elements which give distinction to the subject or lend it atmosphere. They are often momentary, chance-sent things: a gleam of light on water, a trail of smoke from a passing train, a cat crossing a threshold, the shadows cast by a setting sun. Sometimes they are a matter of luck; the photographer could not expect or hope for them. Sometimes they are a matter of patience, waiting for an effect to be repeated that he has seen and lost or for one that he anticipates.

Bill Brandt

I’ll wait for colour, I’ll wait for light and I’ll wait for people to walk into a situation. First, find your picture and your background. Setup your camera and wait. If you wait long enough something will eventually enter the frame you can finish your composition.

Sam Abell

What Makes a Good Travel Photograph?

If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.

Jim Richardson

It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do. He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveler who enters a strange country.

Bill Brandt

My ambition was always to show aspects of daily life as if we were seeing them for the first time.

Brassai

Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.

David Alan Harvey

A picture of a tramp sitting on a park bench can be very interesting… sometimes. This also applies to a picture of a man in high hat and tails. But-snap them both on the same park bench, and you have one of the most forceful, ironical features in photography… contrast.

Weegee

When you look into your camera, if you see an image you have ever seen before, don’t click the shutter.

Alexey Brodovitch

The important thing is, you have to have something important to say about the world.  

Paul Strand

I believe in photographs that convey a certain level of ambiguity, that ask questions rather than provide answers.

Alex Webb

There are many photographs which are full of life but which are confusing and difficult to remember. It is the force of an image which matters.  

Brassai

It is easy to make a picture of someone and call it a portrait. The difficulty lies in making a picture that makes the viewer care about a stranger.

Paul Strand

When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.

Robert Frank

Photography is not cute cats, nor nudes, motherhood or arrangements of manufactured products. Under no circumstances it is anything ever anywhere near a beach.  

Walker Evans

I remember when an editor at the National Geographic promised to run about a dozen of my landscape pictures from a story on the John Muir trail as an essay, but when the group of editors got together, someone said that my pictures looked like postcards.

Galen Rowell

Related: Quote Series: What Makes a Good Photograph?

I think just about everything has been tackled, but it may be that things will be done again, only better and differently.  

Jacques-Henri Lartigue

I still regard myself as an amateur today and I hope that’s what I’ll stay until the end of my life. Because I’m forever a beginner who discovers the world again and again.

Andre Kertesz

The most powerful stories are the ones that unite us, not divide us.

Ami Vitale

Quotes from Non-Photographers

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.

Ray Bradbury

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

Teddy Roosevelt

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Neale Donald Walsch

A journey of a thousand miles, must begin with a single step.  

Lao Tzu

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Helen Keller

Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

Dalai Lama

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.

Susan Sontag

Take only memories, leave only footprints.

Chief Seattle

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Travel Quotes

If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal.

Paulo Coelho

Live your life by a compass, not a clock.

Stephen Covey

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

Saint Augustine

The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.

Sir Richard Burton

Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.  

Yogi Bhajan

The trick is not to forget where you came from and where you have been.

Sandy Triolo

He who would travel happily must travel light.

Antoine de St. Exupery

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.

Gustave Flaubert

Make voyages! Attempt them… there’s nothing else.

Tennessee Williams

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

Seneca

Not all those who wander are lost.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

Ibn Battuta

The Journey

A ship in a harbor is safe, but it not what ships are built for.

John A. Shedd

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Andre Gide

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The journey not the arrival matters.

T.S. Eliot

The traveler is active; he goes strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him…

Daniel J. Boorstin

The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you’re not a traveler, you’re a f’*ing tourist.

Guillermo del Toro

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

Lao Tzu

Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God.

Kurt Vonnegut

The only people who ever get anyplace interesting are the people who get lost.

Henry David Thoreau

The two impulses in travel are to get away from home, and the other is to pursue something – a landscape, people, an exotic place. Certainly finding a place that you like or discovering something unusual is a very sustaining thing in travel.  

Paul Theroux

Difficult roads always lead to beautiful destinations.

Zig Ziglar

One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.

Henry Miller

Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled.

Robert Frost

Travel Photography Summary

Unlike many photography genres, travel photography requires the ability to function across many specialties: landscape, documentary, portrait, street, wildlife, and architecture to name a few. 

When we think of travel photography, we often believe that you have to visit some exotic location on the other side of the world. The reality is, you don’t need to spend a fortune, nor live out of a rucksack to capture great photos. 

What you might consider being the perfect shooting location, other people may consider dull and mundane (and vice-versa). 

Great travel photography comes from great locations. 

Sometimes the best photos can often be found in your own country (and even your own neighborhood). Do some research, find your story, then start your photo project and see where it takes you…

Art is not to be found by touring to Egypt, China, or Peru; if you cannot find it at your own door, you will never find it.  

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Travel Photography Quotes Final Words

There you have it – over 100 of the best travel photography quotes from photographers, writers, artists, explorers and many more. I hope some of these quotes inspire you to plan your next photo project! 

Have a favorite travel photography quote? Are there any others you would add to the list? Let us know in the comments section below. 

Finally, don’t forget to bookmark the page and share it with friends and other photographers through the usual channels. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed this post.

The post The Best Travel Photography Quotes appeared first on Photogpedia.

The multi-award-winning photographer has taken some of the most recognizable images in the history of photography, including his iconic 1984 image Afghan Girl, arguably the most famous portrait of the 20th Century.

His photos have been featured in every major magazine in the world and he has been a member of co-operative photo agency Magnum since 1986.

McCurry began his career as a press photographer in Pennsylvania before traveling to India to work as a freelance photographer.

His coverage of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which he slipped across the border from Pakistan to photograph, won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal.

Since then, he has gone on to take many iconic images that tell stories of people, places, and cultures around the world.

You could call him a photojournalist, documentary photographer, or even a portrait photographer, but McCurry shoots with the simple objective of capturing images that will stay with the viewer for a very long time.

When you look at a Steve McCurry photograph you simply don’t just look at it, instead, you are drawn into it: there’s a sense of mystery and timelessness about his photos that make them unique.

[He] brings you into the photograph… because of the shadow and lack of light perhaps, and also because of the color palette. And once you are in the picture you realize you are caught.

John Echaves, National Geographic

In this article, we’ll look at Steve McCurry’s background, photography style, and share his tips and advice for better photography.

Related: 57 Steve McCurry Quotes to Advance your Photography

As always, if you enjoy the article or find it helpful then we would be grateful if you could share with other photographers on social media, forums, or even your website.

Steve McCurry Biography

Name: Steve McCurry
Nationality: American
Genre: Photojournalism/Documentary, War, Portrait, Travel
Born: April 23, 1950 (Philadelphia, USA)

Early Career

Steve McCurry began his photography journey whilst at Penn State University, where he studied cinematography and film. He started out wanting to be a filmmaker, but after working for the college newspaper, he developed a passion for still photography.

After graduating, McCurry looked for a job in the film industry but ended up getting a job at a local newspaper as a photographer, where he stayed for three years.

When I left I was torn between stills and movie making and could have gone either way. What decided it was that I couldn’t get a job in the film industry, but did manage to get one on a newspaper. I’ve never regretted this decision. 

Steve McCurry

In 1978, he left his job and set off for India for a short self-funded assignment, carrying just a small bag of clothes, another bag full of film, and 2 film cameras.

I researched story ideas before I left and I hit the ground running. I was fascinated with the colour, vibrancy, culture, people, geography and the monsoons in India.

Steve McCurry

Conflict Photography

After eighteen months on the road, he found himself in Pakistan, where he came across Afghan refugees.

While I was up in the north of Pakistan, I met some Afghan refugees who invited me to go into their country and see what was happening…

The story they told him piqued his interest, and he followed them back across the border into Afghanistan to photograph the civil war. However, his journey to the rebel-controlled country was not an easy one.

He disguised himself by growing a full beard and wearing traditional Afghani attire, then snuck across the border through the mountains of Pakistan and into Afghanistan. The Russians invaded in late 1979, and McCurry found himself as the only working photographer on hand to shoot the invasion.

When he left the country, he hid his film inside his clothing – sewn into the folds of his turban and stuffed into his shoes and underwear.

As I was ready to leave, I got very nervous that when I crossed back into Pakistan, my film would be confiscated. So I put my film in my socks and my underwear. I sewed some of the film into my costume and into my turban, so that if I were arrested, I would at least keep my film safe. I wasn’t arrested.

I got a few pictures published in The New York Times. And when the Russians invaded six months later, I had all these pictures that nobody else had. Suddenly major magazines around the world – Paris Match, Stern, Time, Newsweek, and LIFE — were using my pictures.“

Steve McCurry

The resulting photographs – among the first photographic evidence of the conflict – were published in The New York Times, Time Magazine, and other newspapers around the world.

Recognition and Awards

The pictures opened the door for many other assignments and helped McCurry land his first National Geographic assignment in 1980. 

When I crossed the border to Afghanistan in 1979, just in time to document the Russian invasion, I didn’t dream that the country and her people, would have such a profound influence on my work and my life.

McCurry’s Afghanistan photographs won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1980 s – an accolade that commends photographers for their courage and enterprise.

After his critically acclaimed Afghan War coverage, McCurry continued to deliver regular photo reports from international conflicts – including the Iran-Iraq War, Yugoslav civil war, the Cambodian Civil War, the Gulf War and the Lebanese Civil War – while returning again and again to Afghanistan.

In contrast to the more conventional war photographers like Don McCullin, Larry Burrows, and to a lesser extent, James Nachtwey, McCurry’s pictures highlight the human cost of conflict and the effect of war on innocent bystanders.

I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landscape, that you could call the human condition. 

Steve McCurry

The Afghan Girl

In the 1980s, while photographing at a refugee camp in Afghanistan, McCurry took his best-known photograph – “Afghan Girl” – a powerful portrait of a young girl with haunting green eyes (finally identified in 2002 as Sharbat Gula). 

The image became one of the best-known covers for National Geographic and touchstone in his career.

McCurry snapped the image in a matter of minutes back in December 1984, inside a tent in a refugee camp in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; but he didn’t record the girl’s name, never imagining the power the picture would have. 

One day in 1984, at the refugee camp very close to Peshawar (Pakistan), I heard voices coming from one of the tents. It was a makeshift school for young girls. I asked the teacher there if I could take photographs.

Her eyes were the first thing that struck me. What interested me in that classroom that morning was actually that particular girl. I photographed other girls, but that was more just trying to position myself so that I could photograph her. She seemed pretty shy, a little bit troubled. I shot a few frames of her.

I spent about five minutes photographing her and then she quickly ran off to play with her friends. It was one of those cases, where all the elements of the picture came together in a magical way. 

Steve McCurry

McCurry shot the photo on Kodachrome 64 film using a Nikon FM2 and Nikon 105mm F2.5 AI-S lens.

In June 1985, the photograph appeared on the cover of the National Geographic magazine. It would later feature on the cover of the National Geographic 100 Best Pictures collector’s edition in 2001. It is also named “the most recognized photograph” in the entire history of National Geographic magazine.

I can understand why it moves people: she’s mysterious, ambiguous. She’s beautiful, yet she’s troubled. She’s persevering, there’s a fortitude in her. She’s poor, but she’s not timid. It’s a picture you can come back to time and time again.

Steve McCurry

Incidentally, the photo editor at National Geographic chose another image of Sharbat Gula in which she was covering her face to run as the cover for the magazine. Just before the magazine was to go to print, the magazine editor vetoed the photo editor’s choice and decided to run with the iconic photo we all know instead. 

The photograph would later represent to the world the plight and courage of the survivors of the Afghan War in the 1980s. 

The Afghan Girl Re-Visited

The image resonated so strongly that almost seventeen years later, in late 2001, with new turmoil in Afghanistan, the National Geographic Society and McCurry, launched an ambitious effort to find the long-lost girl who had become an icon in the West. 

In January, she was found living in poverty in the war-torn country, and McCurry photographed her again. This time he learned her name: Sharbat Gula. 

She was a striking little girl with an amazing look. I knew when I saw her it was going to be a powerful portrait. But her parents had been killed and life was difficult for her. When I began to search for her again I was told she had died in childbirth or been killed, but 17 years later we found her. It’s a very conservative place there, but we were happy we found her and [I was] relieved she was alive. I think she was happy she came to represent Afghanistan.

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry’s Legacy

In his 40 year career as a photographer, Steve McCurry has traveled to the far corners of the earth to shoot conflicts, landscapes and cultures. But the one region that continues to occupy a special place in his heart is Asia. 

The thing that fascinates me about this region is that we’re all playing these different roles but we’re all part of the same human race. We’re the same, but we do things in different ways. We eat different foods, live in different houses, speak different languages.

Steve McCurry

Whatever the setting he happens to be shooting in, the emotional focus on his documentary photography invariably returns to the human factor. His affinity for photographing people has distinguished his work from others and has helped him earn countless awards.

McCurry has had several close calls – he was arrested in Pakistan, nearly drowned in a plane crash at sea in Slovenia, beaten up by a mob in India – and has been reported dead at least twice.

The part of my brain that’s concerned with self-preservation is very large. I always try to work within a margin of safety. You have to be alert and careful – and hope for the best.

Steve McCurry

Pirelli hired McCurry to lens the 40th edition of their famous calendar in 2013. The tyre company headed to Brazil and in a break from tradition, the models were shot with their clothes on in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. 

In 2015, McCurry was commissioned by Microsoft to take photographs in New Zealand, which were later used for their Windows 10 software.

Awards and Achievements

Aside from the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1978, McCurry was awarded the Magazine Photographer of the Year award in 1984. 

He also holds the distinction of having won four first prizes at the World Press Photo Contest and the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award twice.

In 2002, he was named Photographer of the Year by American Photo Magazine and the PMDA (Photo-imaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association). 

Steve McCurry founded ImagineAsia in 2004. The non-profit organization aims to work in partnership with community leaders and regional NGO’s to provide educational resources and opportunities to both children and young adults in Afghanistan. You can learn more about the project by visiting the ImagineAsia website.

McCurry received two Honorary Fellowships in 2006, one by the Royal Photography Society of Great Britain and the other by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography.

His work has been widely published internationally and McCurry frequently contributes to the National Geographic. In 1986, he became a member of the prestigious Magnum photos.

In 2019, Steve McCurry was finally inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.

Style

• Reportage, documentary
• Capturing mood, human spirit
• Use of color to create atmosphere and sense of place
• Storytelling, narrative-driven
• Simplicity, chance
• Immersion into community, getting to know subjects

How to Shoot Like Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry’s long association with National Geographic has afforded him opportunities to take months-long assignments in locations all over the world. 

When on assignment, McCurry usually travels with locals who serve as assistants, guides and translators, he often wears native garb and tries to blend in with his surroundings. 

A lot of what I do is just wandering and observing. I might see someone on the street and feel there is some story written on his or her face.

Like most photographers, he researches a country beforehand and draws up a list of locations, but once on location he lets the journey dictate what to shoot instead. 

I always try to hit the ground running. I try to have a translator lined up as an assistant; this is the main thing. It’s always good to have someone who can speak the local language, and who can navigate where to go and help if there’s a problem. But as far as research goes, I don’t ever want to do too much of it because, if you go with too many preconceived notions, it can spoil things.

Steve McCurry – Interview with Amateur Photography Magazine

Preparation and Good Light

McCurry plans his shooting days around the light. He prefers to shoot in soft light and heads out in the morning or evening (magic hour) when the light is at its most flattering. 

During the day when the sun is shining and the light is harsh, he’ll head indoors and shoot temples, markets, shops, etc

I try and set up my shooting day to be in a place where there is favorable light the whole day. In the morning, I might be outside. In late morning, I might be inside, so I’m always in a place where the light is working with me.

Working on Assignments

McCurry doesn’t look for pretty landscapes to shoot but instead focuses on story and the people of the land he is covering. His greatest photos are never planned, instead, he relies heavily on chance and happy accidents to occur to get the perfect picture.

You can’t get hung up on what you think your “real” destination is. The journey is just as important.

McCurry used to spend up to six months on an assignment for National Geographic but today his photo assignments tend to be much more focused, and over shorter periods.

You don’t need to spend six months or a year photographing everything that moves. You’re shooting stories, not novels. It’s better journalism and it needs more thought. For instance, you wouldn’t go to Brazil with the idea of shooting the whole country. You’d take less time and do a region, or maybe Rio.

What is important to my work is the individual picture. I photograph stories on assignment, and of course, they have to be put together coherently. But what matters most is that each picture stands on its own, with its own place and feeling.

Steve McCurry

McCurry’s Photography Philosophy

McCurry believes there are no shortcuts in photography and producing consistently great photos comes from hard work and dedication to the craft.

The unfortunate thing in life is that there is a lot of work involved, and often it’s tedious work. Some people buy a camera and wait around to get assignments. It’s wonderful they’re that naive. It’s like telling me you’ve got a first-aid kit so now you’re a brain surgeon. You have to find your own way.

Even if you don’t feel like it, you still need to get your photos on the assignment. The more photos you take, the more chance you have of capturing that great image. 

Sometimes we’re productive and sometimes we’re not, but you really have to average it out. Some days are good, some days aren’t, and you just have to understand that and relax. It’s like playing roulette: eventually, 22 is going to come up. I mean, even Shakespeare probably had an editing process.

Steve McCurry

Don’t be afraid of failure and making mistakes, even great photographers like Steve McCurry take bad photos – the difference is he doesn’t show them to the rest of the world.

Yeah, not every picture is brilliant! A writer might write something that ends up just staying in the notebook, and for a photographer… you photograph some things that you know are just as a record or something that you know isn’t brilliant, but you get the wheels moving. Am I going to wait for the perfect picture before I start shooting? Well, how many perfect pictures are there in a lifetime? Get out and start examining the world, start probing, and eventually…

Not all your photos are going to be keepers, the only thing that matters is the end result. 

And in the end, you’re just judged on the work. People look at the work – a poem, photograph, sculpture, whatever – and they don’t think, ‘How many drafts went into this, was it edited, how long did it take, how many revisions?’ It’s just the work that matters – you put it on the table, and either it speaks to you or it doesn’t.

Steve McCurry

In his film days, McCurry would shoot on average 30 rolls of film in a day. That translates to 1,080 images per day or 30,000 images on a one-month assignment that need editing, scanning, archiving and retouching.

The Human Connection

McCurry crosses borders of language and culture, in search of interesting stories that make for great photography. 

I always have a connection with the subject, whether it’s in a refugee camp or in a suburb of Bombay. I always try and establish some sort of a personal relationship, however brief. There are also times when you may be walking down the street and you photograph people in a fraction of a second. Sometimes the image looks as though it was the product of a long interaction when in fact, it was very brief. 

Steve McCurry

One of the reasons McCurry’s work is so powerful is because it focuses on humanity and life, a subject that we can all relate to.

A perfect example of this is his post-September 11th coverage of Ground Zero. 

McCurry pays a touching tribute to the hundreds who lost their lives, and also the many heroic policemen and firemen who worked tirelessly to get New York back on track. 

It isn’t necessarily about capturing the story but instead capturing the stories of the people affected by the tragic event.

Capturing Portraits

When it comes to his street portraiture, McCurry takes very few candid photos. Working with an interpreter, his portraits are made with his subject’s permission and typically from a close distance. 

The one thing that all McCurry’s portraits have in common is the focal point is the eyes of his subjects. He always tries to incorporate catchlights into the eyes of his subject too – this helps lift his images and gives them a certain spark/or pop. 

This is achieved 99% of the time through his use of natural light (after many years of experience). 

He never uses strobes but does carry small portable LED lights, which he uses to accentuate certain things in some situations.

Related Article: 150+ Portrait Photography Quotes

McCurry tends to isolate his subjects by shooting between f/2.8 and f/5.6 – just enough so his subjects stand out from their surroundings.

McCurry’s portraits are simple, yet they possess a magical quality about them. I consider his portrait work more documentary than classic portraiture (think Yousuf Karsh and Richard Avedon). 

I think people, when you first encounter them, they try and put on a particular mask. I don’t want people to try and look a certain way. I want them to be completely natural and just themselves, without kinda grinning, or smiling, or putting on some kind of silly expression.

His best portraits portray his subjects in their environment and there is very little interaction between the photographer and the subject. The key is to have your subjects forget they’re being photographed and to be patient.

In a portrait, you want something of that person to reveal itself. Some portraits look too controlled. I like to see the naked personality; I want to see something that is real and something that is raw. You don’t see the hand of the photographer; you see the uniqueness of that person. 

Steve McCurry

Take McCurry’s most famous photo, The Afghan Girl. McCurry spent five minutes photographing the refugee camp before finally taking a few frames of the shy and curious girl with green eyes. 

The portrait was essentially a grab shot. The candid image was taken more like a documentary photo, rather than a straight portrait.

If you wait, people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view.

Steve McCurry

In the video below, Steve McCurry talks to Huxley studio about portraiture and his process:

Good Photography and Storytelling

McCurry is known for his vivid color imagery and use of Kodachrome film. His reasoning behind this is simple: we see the world in color, so it makes sense to shoot it in color.

Below he explains how to make a good color photo:

I think the way to identify a good color photograph is to ask yourself if you convert it to black and white does it still have interest? Does it still have value? That would make a good story idea: let’s look at a series of color photographs, let’s just break it down, see how they work: the light, the design, the graphic quality. If it’s a good picture, whether it’s been shot in color or in black and white, then it’s successful.

On what makes great documentary photography: 

I think good documentary photography, on its highest level, gets into a realm where you’ve tapped into some archetype of human connection. You’ve struck a chord in people that has tremendous meaning beyond the event itself.

On the importance of storytelling in photography:

It’s similar to when you hear a song on the radio. There are some songs you connect with and others you don’t. It’s the same with books and movies. Pictures that are memorable, that stick in the mind, are the best pictures. Sometimes I’m looking at pictures and there’s nothing going on; there’s no emotion.

For me, great pictures are about storytelling. I want to learn something from the picture or want it to evoke some kind of emotion. I want it to take me somewhere.

Steve McCurry

If you want to learn more about Steve McCurry’s working process and the stories behind his most famous images then I highly recommend purchasing his book Steve McCurry Untold: The Stories Behind the Images 

What Camera Does Steve McCurry Use?

Steve McCurry uses a Nikon D810, which he has called the best camera he has ever owned. 

I completed a major assignment a couple of weeks ago and used just a D810 and a 24-70mm lens forir the entire job. I use that lens for about 98% of my work now. When I’m walking on the street, I’ll take just one body and one lens. I’ll have a back-up body and lens back at the hotel, just in case. 

McCurry also likes to use a single prime lens when he’s wandering the streets. Another favorite lens of his is the cheap and lightweight Nikon AF 35-70mm F/2.8D.

McCurry was an early tester of the Leica SL2 and did a promotional video for Leica in 2019. 

[I have] virtually no interest in equipment – period. It’s not what motivates me. I don’t want to talk about gear. Any camera on sale today will give you wonderful results. It’s how you do what you do, and whether you enjoy your photography. Manufacturers want to sell their cameras, and their ads are the same now as they were 30 or 40 years ago. 

Steve McCurry

Other cameras he has used over the years include:

Digital: Nikon D810, Nikon D4, Nikon D3, Nikon D700, Nikon D2X
Film: Nikon FM2, Nikon N90S, Nikon F5, Nikon F4, Nikon F100, Olympus OM2N

My first camera was a Miranda. Then I switched to a Pentax and then an Olympus. When I went to India in 1975 with my girlfriend, she had a Nikon and some lenses. I thought we should just use the same camera system and share the lenses, so I switched to Nikon, and I’ve been using it ever since – different models, of course.

The Last Roll of Kodachrome

McCurry moved across to digital in 2003, but for over 20 years he used Kodachrome film. When Kodak announced that they would be discontinuing Kodachrome 64, McCurry wanted to pay homage to the film that he used to create his most iconic images.

Kodak agreed to provide him with the last roll of Kodachrome ever made. For the project, he wanted to photograph iconic people and places. He started off in New York and did a portrait of Robert de Niro. Then he went back to India where his journey began and photographed Bollywood film stars and village nomads.

To complete the project, he made one frame per subject, using his digital camera to check the exposure and composition, similar to using a polaroid camera. 

The film was processed in July 2010 at Dwyane’s Photo in Kansas. Many of the images were published on Vanity Fair’s website. These images are now exhibited in the museum at George Eastman House, in Rochester, New York.

Note: See the recommended videos below to watch the full documentary.

Other Steve McCurry Resources

Recommended Steve McCurry Books

Disclaimer: Photogpedia is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases

• Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs, 2012
• The Stories Behind the Photographs, 2018
• Steve McCurry: A Life in Pictures, 2018

Steve McCurry Videos

The Last Roll of Kodachrome (2010)

In Search for the Afghan Girl (2002)

Behind the Scenes: Pirelli Calendar (2013)

For more Steve McCurry videos we recommend subscribing to his official YouTube channel.

Steve McCurry Photos

Looking for more Steve McCurry photos? Check out the image archive on Steve McCurry’s website.

Fact Check

With each Photographer profile post, we strive to be accurate and fair. If you see something that doesn’t look right, then contact us and we’ll update the post.

If there is anything else you would like to add about Steve McCurry’s work then send us an email: hello(at)photogpedia.com

Link to Photogpedia

If you’ve enjoyed the article or you’ve found it useful then we would be grateful if you could link back to us or share online through twitter or any other social media channel. This article took 7 days to research and write. Sharing the link takes less than 2 minutes and doesn’t cost anything.

Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Sources

Official Steve McCurry Website, Biography
PDN Gallery, Q&A with Steve McCurry 
American Photo Jul-Aug 2006
Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs, 2012
Pirelli calendar turns over a new leaf, The Guardian, 2012
It’s All Mixed: An Interview with Steve McCurry, GUP Magazine, 2013
Iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ Portrait Was Almost Passed Over by Editor, Peta Pixel, 2013
The Steve McCurry Interview, The Sartorialist, 2013
Leica Stories, Leica SL2, November 2013
N Photo Mag, March 2014
Steve McCurry: The interview, Australian Photography, 2017

Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs, 2012
The Stories Behind the Photographs, 2018
A Life in Pictures, 2018

The Last Roll of Kodachrome, 2010
In Search for the Afghan Girl, 2010 
Magnum in Motion: Steve McCurry, 2011
Behind the Scenes of Pirelli Calendar, 2012
The Stories Behind the Photographs Promo Video, Phaidon, 2013
An Interview With Steve McCurry, TEDxAmsterdam, 2015
Steve McCurry on Portraiture, Huxley Gallery, 2020

The post Steve McCurry: The Journey Is Just as Important appeared first on Photogpedia.

His images capture the atmosphere and mood of a place rather than simply the details. He doesn’t photograph people but rather explores landscapes that have the memory of their presence and the traces of what’s left behind.

I often use the analogy of a theatre stage. I prefer to photograph the stage before the characters appear, and after they leave. At those times, there is a certain atmosphere of anticipation in the air. We can live in our imagination and our own stories on the empty stage, but as soon as the characters arrive, we begin to be caught up in their stories. It is a different experience.

Michael Kenna

Kenna’s approach is all about patience, and he visits the same locations many times over, waiting for the landscape to open up and reveal themselves to his lens.

He takes his time and gets to know the landscape first, then builds a connection, before finally photographing it the same way you would take a portrait of an old friend.

I am not interested in describing and copying what I see. I am interested in a collaboration with the subject matter.

Michael Kenna

His use of long exposures (sometimes up to 10 hours) helps create unique and atmospheric images, while also allowing for unpredictability and chance.

Perhaps most intriguing of all is that it is possible to photograph what is impossible for the human eye to see – cumulative time.

Michael Kenna

The aim of this article is to provide a brief overview of Michael Kenna’s work and photography style. If you find the article helpful, then we would be grateful if you could share it with other photographers.

Related: 52 Michael Kenna Quotes for Better Landscape Photography

Michael Kenna Biography

Name: Michael Kenna
Nationality: British
Genre: Landscape, Travel, Commercial, Nudes
Born: 1953 (Widnes, Lancashire, England)
Resides: San Francisco, California, USA (Since 1978)

Michael Kenna’s Style

• Minimalism and simplicity (influenced by Japanese haiku)
• Black and White
• Abstract, Long exposures
• Atmospheric, ethereal
• Meditative, reflective

What Camera Does Michael Kenna Use?

Kenna uses a Hasselblad medium format camera. His lenses range from 40mm to 250mm. He first used 35mm Nikkormats and Nikons for fifteen years before switching to the Hasselblad in 1986. For some projects, he uses a Holga camera and even a 4×5 large format camera.

I have a backpack and that determines how many cameras I carry. I insist that I can carry what I use to photograph as I don’t usually have an assistant. The backpack can hold two 120 camera bodies, two film backs, and two viewfinders. One is metered through the lens and the other one is a waist level.

I usually have five lenses with me ranging from 40mm to 250mm. All the equipment is Hasselblad. I also carry cable releases, a lightweight carbon fiber tripod, and sometimes a handheld light meter for the night. That’s about it.

Michael Kenna

He often uses a red filter to darken the skies and add more contrast to his images. For his long exposures, he adds an ND filter/s to get the desired effect.

What About Film

Kenna’s go to film is Kodak Tri-X 400. When he needs slower film to shoot during the day, he’ll switch to something like Agfa 25. He always uses black and white film for personal projects, and sometimes color for commercial.

I use black and white film. For the most part, I use Kodak Tri-X. 400asa film. One of the nice things about this film is that it hasn’t changed much since I first started 40 years ago. It’s like an old friend; It’s flexible and forgiving, and easy to work with. That’s why I still use it. I also use other films depending on which country I am in and where I can buy the films. Tri-X is my old stand by.

I find black and white to be more malleable and mysterious than color; it is more an interpretation of reality than a reflection of reality.

Michael Kenna

Processing Film

When it comes to processing film, Kenna always used the same formula regardless of light conditions and length of exposure:

I advise my students to develop their film about 10% less than whatever they normally do for daylight exposures. This is a good starting point. Serious night photographers may use any one of a dozen or so compensating developer methods to reduce the predictable contrast increase. Personally I’ve given up changing my developer times for different conditions. I now process everything 11 1/2 minutes, D76, 1:1, 68 degrees, and work out any adjustments at the printing stage. I’ve used this development process for as long as I can remember so I don’t even think about it anymore. Sometimes I’ve substituted Rodinal when D76 was not available but otherwise, I don’t experiment.

Michael Kenna

On a typical photoshoot, Kenna shoots between 15-20 rolls of film daily. Instead of processing all the film himself, he normally sends it out to a film lab and waits for the negatives to arrive in the post before printing his images (one of the most important stages of his process).

When photographing I probably average about 10-15 rolls of 120 film each day, which adds up after a few weeks. I have not processed my own film for many years and instead prefer to send them out to a reputable lab and keep my fingers crossed. I usually have two sets of contact prints made, one gets filed and the other I use to edit out images that look interesting. I cut out frames from the contact proofs and further edit before going into the darkroom to work on an enlarged print.

Darkroom and Printing

Kenna is a highly skilled printer (he began as a darkroom printer in the 70s). He uses Ilford Multigrade IV RC paper (neutral, glossy) and spends many hours in the darkroom dodging and burning to get his prints perfect.

Processing film is really one of the most boring parts of photography, but printing is another matter – a most important and often underrated part of the creative process. A good negative can be wrecked by a bad print – often is – a bad negative can rarely be redeemed, but there is so much potential for subjective interpretation and discovery in the middle. I can stay in the darkroom for many hours exploring a new negative.

I believe printmaking is a critical component of the photographic process and I will always try to do it myself. The negative is raw material, which a skilled and creative printmaker can mold in a thousand different ways. There are many technical and aesthetic decisions to be made along the way, the sum of which makes a print unique and very personal.

Michael Kenna

Print Size

He never prints larger than 8×10 because he likes the intimacy of a small print:

I prefer the intimacy of the smaller print. I experimented with 16×20 prints in the late 80s but later destroyed most of them. Some collectors really like them but they just didn’t feel right for me. Apart from the more obvious technical and optical considerations, what is more important for me is the relationship that a viewer has with the print.

The eye comfortably views and focuses an angle of about 30 degrees. This translates into a viewer comfortably standing about 10 inches away from a 4x5inch print and 3 1/2 feet away from a 16×20 inch print.

Small prints have a greater feeling of intimacy – one looks into the print. Large prints are more awesome – they are something a viewer looks out at. I believe in fitting the print size to one’s particular vision and prefer the more intimate engagement of the smaller image.

I highly recommend checking out the interview section on the Michael Kenna website for more darkroom and printing tips.

Related: Hiroshi Sugimoto: Capturing the Transience of Time

Other Resources

Recommended Michael Kenna Books

Disclaimer: Photogpedia is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases.

• Michael Kenna: A 20 Year Retrospective, 2003
• Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan, 2015

Michael Kenna Videos

Michael Kenna: A Letter from Shinan, 2013

Hokkaido Documentary, 2006

Michael Kenna Photos

Looking for more Michael Kenna photos? Visit the image archive on the Michael Kenna website.

Fact Check

With each Photographer profile post, we strive to be accurate and fair. If you see something that doesn’t look right, then contact us and we’ll update the post.

If there is anything else you would like to add about Michael Kenna’s work then send us an email: hello(at)photogpedia.com

Link to Photogpedia

If you’ve enjoyed the article or you’ve found it useful then we would be grateful if you could link back to us or share online through twitter or any other social media channel. This article took 3 days to research and write. Sharing the link takes less than 2 minutes and doesn’t cost anything.

Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Sources

Michael Kenna: A 20 Year Retrospective, 2003

On the Shoulder of Giants, Camera Darkroom Magazine, July 1995
In the Darkroom with Michael Kenna, Photowork, 1997
Interview with Michael Kenna, Photoforum, 2003
Michael Kenna Interview, Photo Review, 2003
Pro Cameraman interviews Michael Kenna, Dolby Chadwick Gallery, July 2012
Curiosity is important, Light and Land, 2019
Official Michael Kenna website

Michael Kenna: A Letter from Shinan, 2013
Hokkaido Documentary, 2006

The post Michael Kenna: Light, Land and the Empty Stage appeared first on Photogpedia.