Ansel Adams
photographer, pianist, writer, mountaineer, university teacher, environmentalist, documentary photographer
Read on Wikipedia1902 – 1984
All Quotes by Ansel Adams
“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.”
“In my mind's eye, I visualize how a particular... sight and feeling will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice.”
“There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define; we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit.”
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”
“Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have somone click the shutter.”
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”
“You don't take a photograph, you make it.”
“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”
“There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define; we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit.”
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”
“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”
“Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.”
“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”
“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.”
“I have often thought that if photography were difficult in the true sense of the term — meaning that the creation of a simple photograph would entail as much time and effort as the production of a good watercolor or etching — there would be a vast improvement in total output. The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster.”
“The herculean task of a photographer is to capture a momentary frame as beautiful in reality, as it would be in a dream.”
“The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance.”
“For me the future of the image is going to be in electronic form. … You will see perfectly beautiful images on an electronic screen. And I'd say that would be very handsome. They would be almost as close as the best reproductions.”
“I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them.”
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”
“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own Government to save the environment.”
“If what I see in my mind excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph.”
“I would never apologize for photographing rocks. Rocks can be very beautiful. But, yes, people have asked why I don’t put people into my pictures of the natural scene. I respond, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” That usually doesn’t go over at all.”
“Yes, in the sense that the negative is like the composer’s score. Then, using that musical analogy, the print is the performance. (Paraphrased as "Film is the score and the print is the performance.")”
“No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied — it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.”
“The only things in my life that compatibly exist with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.”
“Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.”
“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”
“There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define; we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit.”