James Nachtwey Quotes

I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.

For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war.

There is a job to be doneto record the truth. I want to wake people up!

I became a photographer in order to be a war photographer, and a photographer involved in what I thought were critical social issues. From the very beginning this was my goal.

You are never freer than in that moment when you decide to expose yourself to sniper fire.

If you want to connect with people who are in distress and great grief and scared, you need to do it in a certain way. I move kind of slow. I talk kind of slow. I let them know that I respect them.

If you make an honest picture of war, it will be an antiwar photograph.

I want my pictures to cut through political abstractions... and make a connection on a human level.

I'm half deaf. I have nerve damage and a constant ringing in both of my ears, and there are certain times and conditions when I can hardly hear at all.

I try to use whatever I know about photography to be of service to the people I'm photographing.

The greatest statesmen, philosophers, humanitarians ... have not been able to put an end to war. Why place that demand on photography?

When the truth is spoken, it doesn't need to be adorned. It just needs to be simply stated, and often it only needs to be said once.

Photojournalists know the horrors of war can only be exposed at close range. Kodak Film.

I don't believe there's any such thing as objective reality. It's only reality as we experience it.

Unfortunately, the world continues, history continues to produce tragedies. And it is very important that they be documented in a humane way, in a compelling way.

Is it possible to put an end to a form of human behavior which has existed throughout history by means of photography?

Photography can be perceived as the opposite of war.

Starvation and disease are the original weapons of mass destruction. When you burn fields and kill animals, people are left vulnerable.

I used to call myself a war photographer. Now I consider myself as an antiwar photographer.

[Photography] puts a human face on issues which, from afar, can appear abstract or ideological or monumental in their global impact.

If I can upset people, if I can ruin their day, then I have done my job.

I dont think tragic situations are necessarily devoid of beauty.

None of the editors I've worked with have ever asked me to pull my punches. They've never asked me to give them anything other than my own interpretation of events.

Do we really need another picture of Paris Hilton or Naomi Campbell?

I began after college, about 1972. I began to teach myself photography. I went to work for a local newspaper for four years as a kind of basic training.

If Im feeling outraged, grief, disbelief, frustration, sympathy, that gets channeled through me and into my pictures and hopefully transmitted to the viewer.

If I'm feeling outraged, grief, disbelief, frustration, sympathy, that gets channeled through me and into my pictures and hopefully transmitted to the viewer.