We can all use some inspiration to fire up our photography creativity from time to time. So I’ve put together a collection of photography quotes to inspire and make you laugh. So whether you’re looking for inspirational photography quotes or funny photography quotes, there is something to capture the imagination of every photographer.
“Your most important gear is your eye, heart and soul.” — Marius Vieth
“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.” — Jim Richardson
“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely every hundredth of a second.” ― Marc Riboud
“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” — Yousuf Karsh
“It is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.” ― Robert Frank
“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
“Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.” — Peter Adams
“Essentially what photography is is life lit up.” — Sam Abell
“As a photographer you have a deep love for light, life and yourself. You know that the eyes of love aren’t blind, they are wide open. Only when your eye, heart and soul shine brighter than the sun, you realize how ordinary it is to love the beautiful, and how beautiful it is to love the ordinary.” ― Marius Vieth
“A camera is just a tool, and you’re a tool if you’re worried about what camera you are using.” ― Jon Luvelli
“If it makes you cry, it goes in the show.” — Annie Leibovitz
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” — Ansel Adams
“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.” ― Dorothea Lange
“When people ask me what equipment I use – I tell them my eyes.” — Anonymous
“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.” — Joan Miro
“Photography, to me, is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true.” ― Jacques-Henri Lartigue
“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things in words.” — Elliott Erwitt
“Photography can light-up darkness and expose ignorance.” — Lewis Hine
“It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use.” — Sam Abell
“Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.” ― David Alan Harvey
“I’ve never taken a picture I’ve intended. They’re always better or worse.” ― Diane Arbus
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” — Ansel Adams
“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.” — Lewis Hine
“Photography is what emotions look like.” —Jon Luvelli
“The two most engaging powers of a photograph are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.” — William Thackeray
“You don’t have to sort of enhance reality. There is nothing stranger than truth.” — Annie Leibovitz
“I like to photograph anyone before they know what their best angles are.” — Ellen Von Unwerth
“Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn’t make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.” — Peter Adams
“All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” ― Richard Avedon
“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.” — Yousuf Karsh
“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.” ― Henri Cartier-Bresson
“It’s a lot of work living the life that you want to live, but that’s what I’m doing.” ― David Alan Harvey
“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” — Elliott Erwitt
“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” ― Dorothea Lange
“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.” ― George Eastman
“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.” ― Robert Frank
“It’s marvelous, marvelous! Nothing will ever be as much fun. I’m going to photograph everything, everything!” – Jacques-Henri Lartigue
Conclusion
I hope these photography quotes have inspired you, made you laugh or even just given you a pleasant escape for a few moments. Just as a photograph can do. Know of photography quotes you think have a place here? Please let me know in the comments.
Some of My Favorite Photography Gear
Canon EOS 6D Mark II Digital SLR Camera Body
Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens
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