Elliott Erwitt Quotes

The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don't have to explain things with words.

Covering a historic event is perfectly legitimate. It's not sneaking into somebody's boudoir... These people belong to history, and not to record that if you have the opportunity would be wrong.

Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.

After following the crowd for a while, I'd then go 180 degrees in the exact opposite direction. It always worked for me.

Working myself into a position of total versatility, so that I can do anything I want to do at the time I want to do it. Whether I do it or not is another question.

All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice.

Somehow Photoshop and the ease with which one can produce an image has degraded the quality of photography in general.

Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times...I just shoot at what interests me at that moment.

Photography is pretty simple stuff. You just react to what you see, and take many, many pictures.

I like things that have to do with what is real, elegant, well presented and without excessive style. In other words, just fine observation.

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.

Most photographers work best alone, myself included.

I appreciate simplicity, true beauty that lasts over time, and a little wit and eclecticism that make life more fun.

I'm not a serious photographer like many of my contemporaries. That is to say, I am serious about not being serious.

I'm an amateur photographer, apart from being a professional one, and I think maybe my amateur pictures are the better ones.

You can find pictures anywhere. It's simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them.

Photography is simply a function of noticing things.

Ill always be an amateur photographer.

You don't study photography. You do it.

It's just seeing - at least the photography I care about. You either see or you don't see. The rest is academic. Anyone can learn how to develop. It's how you organize what you see into a picture.

If you're not a curious person, you're certainly not going to be a good photographer.

I don't really have a favorite camera. I use a Leica and Canon a lot. It depends, especially professionally, on the requirements. But my carry-around camera is a Leica.

You must have a visual sense if you want to be a photographer. It is a very subtle thing, this visual business.

A picture should be looked at - not talked about.

If you keep your cool, you'll get everything.

Be sure to take the lens cap off before photographing.

Something catches your eye, or your interest. You attack it in some way or observe it in some way, and try to put it in some kind of form and take a picture. It's as simple as that.

The work I care about is terribly simple. I observe. I try to entertain. But above all I want my pictures to be emotional. Little else interests me in photography.

You don't study photography, you just do it.

I wasn't imposing my presence on anyone, which is very important for a would- be journalist. I stayed back. Always let people be themselves.

A visual sense is something you either have or you don't.

I've been around so long, most editors think I'm dead.

Now very often events are set up for photographers... The weddings are orchestrated about the photographers taking the picture, because if it hasn't been photographed it doesn't really exist.

I enjoy nothing more than spending time with my loved ones, young and old, and at least once a year we get together for a formal family photograph.

If your subjects are eternal... they'll survive.

You have to devote yourself totally to be successful at it.

All of my marriages lasted seven years.

The advantage of taking pictures of the famous is that they get published.

The best things happen when you just happen to be somewhere with a camera.

I am serious about not being serious.

When I get up in the morning I brush my teeth and go about my business, and if I am going anywhere interesting I take my camera along.

Do what the client wants, not what you want.

I dislike landscapes. I only like people, and plastic flowers.

Dogs don't mind being photographed in compromising situations.

My 'work' is about seeing not about ideas.

I like museums in Berlin a lot, especially in the eastern part. They're extraordinarily good.

Quality … has to do with intention.

My life has been quite interesting professionally.

The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.