DAILY BLOG

“Hard work will always overcome natural talent when natural talent does not work hard enough.” 

~ Sir Alex Ferguson

“But the real marvel is the paradox. Somehow we know that this extraordinary performance is pure charade, a little girl’s caricature of Mae West. The puzzling truth is that Miss Monroe is a make-believe siren, unsophisticated as a Rhine Maiden, innocent as a sleepwalker. She is an urchin pretending to be grown up, having the time of her life in mother’s moth-eaten finery, tottering about in high-heeled shoes and sipping ginger ale as though it were a champagne cocktail. There is an otherworldly, winsome naïveté about the child’s eyes.”
~ Cecil Beaton

“Above all, I want to be treated as a human being.”
~ Marilyn Monroe

"Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second."

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“I tried to dismantle photography but ended up being dismantled myself.”

~ Daido Moriyama (b. 1938)

“For as long as I can remember, I have felt most at peace outdoors. Nature has always been my refuge and sanctuary.” 

~ Jeffrey Conley

"While human life is fleeting, our individual lives are a rich tapestry of experiences and memories."

~ Paul Cupido

"Like most people I am both fascinated and terrified by the way in which minutes, hours, days and years quickly disappear, leaving nothing palpable in their wake. And, also like many people, I am especially pleased with the fact that the camera, through its special magic, is able to stop this flow of time-at least for a moment-and, in addition, preserve a tiny segment of my existence within its passage. I am highly intrigued with this bit of time that assumes a concrete form which I can hold in my hand."

~Don Worth (1924 - 2009)

“As minutes passed, I fell more and more in love with Norma Jeane; there was an immediate rapport between us.”

~ Andre de Dienes (1913 - 1985)

"Presence is something attained, not given by age."
~ William Clift

"I feel there is something unexplored about woman that only a woman can explore."

~ Georgia O’Keeffe

“Of course, a sharp eye is fundamental. And of course you have to be alert, sensitive, responsive, at ease in your own body, so that you can react to the stimuli around you immediately. But above all, you have to have desire. That desire the photographer must feel in the instant they take the shot. If you don't have desire, you won't see what's there. I'm talking about the desire you feel in that moment when you see something that compels you to take your shot - it could be a woman, or anything. Desire is all around us; there's a huge, limitless supply of it. It's important to be true to that desire. To take a photograph that is at all interesting or meaningful you must become one with that desire when you press the shutter button.”

~ Daido Moriyama (b. 1938)

“Photography is the soul of all moments, the soul of the moment before it nears its end."

~ Sarah Moon

Halsman recalls that she had to jump 200 times at the photographic session, but because "she was such a perfectionist and everything had to be just right, she told me as she left: 'Philippe, if something is wrong with the pictures, don't hesitate to call me up-even if it is 4 in the morning. I'll come over and jump again for you'"~ Philippe Halsman (1906-1979)

“Life has a different dimension in low light.”

~ Sheila Metzner

“Darling, you are in love with my camera!”

~ Georges Dambier

“This is at the Grand Hotel in St Moritz in Switzerland- those are the Engadine Mountains in the background -and this is the headwaiter Rene Breguet. He is showing how to bring a bottle of whiskey at great speed. He could even jump over a chair and keep his tray steady. He was a great skater, that man.
All the waiters wore a black tie and tails. I went back in 1947 but the Grand Hotel had burned down and was never re built. The old glitter was gone.”

~ Alfred Eisenstaedt
(1898-1995)

"I don’t think I’m singing. I feel like I’m playing a horn. What comes out is what I feel."

~ Billie Holiday
(1915-1959)

"The camera wiped away all of my self-consciousness with people. For me the camera was my open sesame."

~ Herman Leonard
(1923-2010)

"The truly fashionable are beyond Fashion”

~ Cecil Beaton
(1904-1980)

"An actor lives with the lie as if it were the truth. A false truth can offer more reality than the truth that was altered."

~ Bert Stern

“Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here 
To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and the frozen lake 
The darkest evening of the year. 
He gives his harness bells to shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downing flakes
The woods are lovely ,dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep"

Robert Frost 
1874-1963

The good photographer unconsciously studies people, movements, attitudes, expressions. He watches and waits for the significant. I do not like pictures where the subject is reacting to you, the photographer. The best pictures result when the subjects react to each other. The photographer is a witness, not a participant.

~ Jürgen Schadeberg
(1931-2020)

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” ~ Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)

“I feel so fortunate to have been a temporary custodian of these images and now is the time to let them fly away and bestow their power on new recipients.”

~ Peter Fetterman

“I never try to interpret anything. I just photograph.”

~ Brett Weston
(1911 - 1993)

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do."

~ Pelé.

“I have always believed that fashion was not only to make women more beautiful, but also to reassure them, give them confidence."

~ Yves Saint Laurent
1936-2008

“That look! He looks at what he sees (like all the world) with eyes open—around him, near him, far beyond. Only observe the result…..
The whole of life, or life’s details… It’s all one to YSL: a crowd, a man, a throng, a desert, a person before him, an empty set…. He sees a woman, a man, a garden, a prison, the ocean, the laughter of a child; no reflection on these things that touch his life so closely.”

~ Marguerite Duras

""Quiet Time I" is a visual meditation on peace, tranquility, and the
profound serenity that nature offers. It captures a moment shared between a dandelion and a butterfly - two forms of life I have loved since I was a small boy. Here, the butterfly rests its wings upon the petals, mirroring the quiet stillness within my own heart. To me, this scene is not merely a fleeting moment; it is a snapshot of life suspended within the vast, infinite current of
time that flows from the ancient past into the eternal future."

~ Ryuji Taira

"When the cameras would roll, whether it was a still camera or a movie camera, she'd come alive. Marilyn was really an actress. The 'dumb blonde' image was just a total performance."

~ Lawrence Schiller

“A photo must represent, partake, suggest or reflect the object photographed but it is not a work of art because it does either or all of these. It must be alive as a photograph, have an existence of it’s own”

~ Edward Steichen

"I realized later in the darkroom when I printed this image, how amazing the dog's expression is. Snapshots are all about an instant moment and this dog instantly became a part of me."

~ Daido Moriyama (b. 1938)

“My music is the spiritual expression of what I am—my faith, my knowledge, my being…
When you begin to see the possibilities of music, your desire is to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups—I want to speak to their souls.”

~ John Coltrane

"You can read about yourself and somebody else's ideas about you, but what's important is how you feel about you."

~ Marilyn Monroe

“May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young”

~ Bob Dylan

“Do not fear mistakes - there are none. ”

~ Miles Davis
(1926-1991)

“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.”

~ Robert Frank (1924 - 2019)

"I continue to photograph this fence. One might think that little would change, yet each time something is different. Perspectives constantly alter, snow levels vary, and the light is never the same. Perhaps a new pattern and configuration appears, an arrangement of form changes, distance contracts or lengthens to become ambiguous. The minimalism and sheer simplicity of the scene can transform three dimensions into two, and the sparse elements seem to make prints more like semi-e ink paintings than photographs. I have printed nine studies so far, and fully anticipate a new one from this year's visit. It is a landscape that keeps giving."

~ Michael Kenna

“You just have to live and life will give you pictures”~ Henri Cartier Bresson(1908-2004)

"We live in trying times. Maybe this is the one thing everyone can agree on. There is a soothing and meditative quality to observing gently breaking waves. From the sounds to the random designs of the unique patterns; these experiences can transform us by shifting focus to something real, primal, and foundational. Such was the case of this photograph, made from the Venice (California) pier. I wanted to distill the shapes I was observing into core, minimalist elements."

~ Jeffrey Conley

" I look at my photographs as portraits of our ancestors. As such they serve as reminders that we have all walked in someone else's footsteps; that it is impossible to cut oneself off from the past. "

~ David Plowden

“To sleep, perchance to dream.”
William Shakespeare.  

“The photos that interest me most, I can’t say why I took them. I think my gift is that I still work with a certain amount of unconsciousness “
Sarah Moon

“Painting is self discovery. Every good artist paints what he/she is.”

~ Jackson Pollock
(1912-1956)

“I feel that I am an explorer of the infinite, searching for the underlying meaning of things.” 

~ Wynn Bullock (1902 - 1975)

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement, the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It’s the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

~ Sir David Attenborough 
Born 1926 England

“Architecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life.
I do not think of it primarily as either a message or a symbol but as an envelope and background for life which goes on and in and around it, a sensitive container for the rhythm of footsteps on the floor, for the concentration of work, for the silence of sleep.”

~ Peter Zumthor

“She had an immensely capable mind, but it had been battered by life, battered by a culture that demanded only enticement and seduction from her.”

~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
(1908-2004)

“If you were to ask me to define a photograph in a few words, I would say it is a fossil of light and time.”

~ Daido Moriyama (b. 1938)

"After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea.”

~ David Attenborough
(b. 1926)

“To see what I have seen, to have contact where I have had. I have lived really deep inside the human communities and I have lived deep inside the environment. If it was necessary to start again I would do exactly as I did before I have had a big pleasure in my life.”

~ Sebastiao Salgado
(1944-2025)

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." 

— Henry David Thoreau
(1817-1862)

“In my 1970s work, I looked for images consistent with a romantic vision of the arts. I was drawn to trees, misty castles, swing sets at night, waves rising from harbor walls, empty beach chairs, and the like. In the 1980s, more industrial subject matter interested me. Just a few years before, I would have spurned the power station in favor of the beautiful Nottingham landscape. Now, I ignored the landscape and focused instead on this monolithic industrial construction. I would continue photographing Ratcliffe for almost twenty years.”

~ Michael Kenna 
(1953)

"On a misty April morning I was going to photograph trees in one of my favorite parks. On the way I saw already from afar two people staying opposite each other. I thought they were looking at the map being tourists from the ship arrived to the nearby port an hour ago. While passing by I find they were a young couple embracing. I returned few steps behind them, turned slightly my Rolleiflex and pushed the silent button. I nodded of gratitude but they didn't pay any attention, anything but each other. When you see people in love it makes you happy too."

~ Pentti Sammallahti

“I still see, as I did in the early days of our relationship, her love for me and my artistic work and my love for her.”

~ René Groebli
(1927 - 2026)

“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.”

~ Yves Saint Laurent
(1936-2008)

“When people talk to me about picture hunter I vey quietly laugh.I’m not a hunter of pictures.I’m a fisher of pictures”

~ Robert Doisneau
(1912-1994)

“Our friendship is lost in the darkness of time. We will no longer have his laugh, full of compassion nor his hard hitting retorts, so funny and profound, never told twice, each time a surprise. But his deep kindness, his love for all beings and for a simple life will always exist in his work.”

~ Henri Cartier Bresson
(1908-2004)

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

- Abraham Lincoln

"When you take a photo at 1/1000 of a second, the moment can become an eternal fact, an eternal moment. So we have a philosophical problem of objectivity and subjectivity."

~ Eikoh Hosoe

“A photographer belongs to a breed apart. I’m not an artist. A journalist reconstructs reality but a photographer doesn’t. I have the privilege of looking, nothing more.”

~ Sebastiao Salgado 
(1944 - 2025)

"Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever."

~ Unknown

“I’m just a kid, hoping to play a few more innings before it gets dark.” ~ Jed Devine (1944 - 2024)

“Deciding to decide is the hardest part of being a photographer.”

~ Ralph Gibson

“I never question what to do. It tells me what to do. The photographs make themselves with my help”

~ Ruth Bernhard

"I guess I'm photographing love."

~ Harry Callahan (1912 - 1999)

“During my childhood, I frequently pondered, ‘Where did I come from and where am I going?”

~ Ryuji Taira (b. 1960)

“Around a mock rock star I gather a play ground cast of characters, including pin unstop models, movie stars and an innocent bystander”

~ William Klein
(1926-2022)

“Photography is a way of looking. It is not the look of the thing photographed.” 

~ Brett Weston (1911 - 1993)

“I have an intense desire to record life as I see it, as I feel it. As long as I’m amazed and astonished, as long as I feel that events, messages, expressions and movements are all shot through with the miraculous, I’ll feel filled with the certainty I need to keep going. When that day comes, my doubts will vanish.” 

~ Louis Faurer (1916 - 2001)

"I was very serious about photography and remember thinking, "God, if I could only take two or three great photos in my lifetime!"

~ Max Yavno (1911 - 1985)

I believe the physical effort of making a photograph, the virtuous ability, should not be revealed in the result. As with a professional dancer, whose hours of intensive practice in perfection of technique should not be apparent to the audience, the photographer should present to his or her audience the beauty and feeling, motion and emotion, not the technique.

~ Frances McLaughlin-Gill
(1919-2014)

“I was always quite content to be a good craftsman.” 

~ Wolf Suschitzky

“The ridiculous side of situations is accepted first and foremost by it’s victims.We are not interested in knowing if the models are aware that they are funny or moving."

~ Jean-Claude Lemagny 
French photo historian and curator

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”
~ Susan Sontag

“I am completely tied up with softness, fragility, and the problems of a feminine world.”

~ Lillian Bassman (1917 - 2012)

“I discovered the idea of “MU” while traveling from Tokyo to Abushiri. Travelling means leaving things behind and with just a few clothes and a toothbrush you create both physical and mental space. This space which we often experience during holidays-instantly sparks inspiration. “MU” represents this: the emptiness that is ready to be filled. It’s like the simple act of rolling up your futon after waking allows the morning light to fill the room. I apply “MU” not only in the creative process but also by allowing a sense of emptiness within my work itself. It brings you closer to the essence- to the emotion behind the moment of creation.”

~ Paul Cupido

“I started with the Subway series in 1946 and would occasionally shoot in Penn Station until 1958 when I did it full time. I loved the place and what was happening there. It was a spacious and dramatic arena where people in the art of traveling went through a mixture of excitement, a silent patience for waiting and an honest fatigue. My fellow human beings are my main subject matter. When they travel, people are “on the big stage” so to speak. At heart my life’s work with the camera is to interpret the world around me through my own personal vision."

~ Louis Stettner 
(1922-2016)

“The fog surrounds us as we leave the harbor. Five minutes into the bay, and we might as well be on the moon. The sun swells the fog, and the light glows, painting us gold like icons. I believe in the sky and the answers in it.Every 30 seconds, Elizabeth sounds the horn, a reminder that we are of this world and not another. The more we stare into the fog, the less we see.
The horn is an echo. We have the ocean below us and the sky above us. Oxygen, when frozen, is a robin’s egg blue. Inhale ocean. Exhale sky.” 

~ Cig Harvey

"Harlem was in vogue."

~ Langston Hughes from The Big Sea (1940)