10 quotes
The picture-story involves a joint operation of the brain, the eye and the heart.
The Decisive Moment (1952)
To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.
Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression.
Bruce Elder (1989)
I am a visual man. I watch, watch, watch. I understand things through my eyes.
Sometimes a single event can be so rich in itself and its facets that it is necessary to move all around it in your search for the solution to the problems it poses — for the world is movement, and you cannot be stationary in your attitude toward something that is moving.
The Decisive Moment (1952)
I hate looking at photography books or illustrated magazines. This is not because of contempt. I’d rather look at contact sheets: that is where you can sense the individual.
Only Geometricians May Enter: Interview with Yves Bourde (1974)
You have to look, and looking is so difficult. We are used to thinking. We reflect all the time, well or not, but people are not taught how to look. It takes a very long time.
The Main Thing Is Looking: Interview with Alain Desvergnes (1979)
If I am asked about the photographer’s role in our times, the power of the image and so on, I do not want to launch into explanations. I only know that people who know how to look are as rare as those who know how to listen.
To Seize Life: Interview with Yvonne Baby (1961)
I believe creative work needs communication. So it’s extremely encouraging to be with a group of people who form a community and to know that you’re not isolated, although as individuals we must always work in an inner silence.
Conversation. Interview with Byron Dobell (1957)
For me, the great myth is the Greek myth of Antaeus, who had to touch Earth to regain his strength. I know I must always keep in contact with the concrete, concrete reality, the small incident and the small, specific truth, which might have wide reverberations.
Conversation. Interview with Byron Dobell (1957)