The words of photographers

are full of insight, not only of photography but also of our world. As observers of our reality, it seems fitting that they would have a lot to say about humanity. I picked the following quotes because they discuss the median between our world and the photograph and the relationship between the two.

"To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis."
-Henri Cartier-Bresson

"The idea that any photography can't be personal is madness! ... I see something; it goes through my eye, brain, heart, guts; I choose the subject. What could be more personal than that?"
-Cornell Capa

"A photographer is an acrobat treading the high wire of chance, trying to capture shooting stars."
-Guy Le Querrec

"This is the essence of a work of art: that you never touch bottom. If a picture has for everybody exactly the same meaning, it is a platitude, and it is meaningless as a work of art."
-Philippe Halsman

"Often, the most worthwhile and convincing images tend to lurk within the hidden, oblique stories that fly just below the radar."
-Jonas Bendiksen

"...in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought."
-W. Eugene Smith

"Like the people you shoot and let them know it."
-Robert Capa

"...land makes people into who they are and what happens to them when they lose it and thus lose their identities."
-Larry Towell

"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."
-James Nachtwey

"With all the arguments and discussions about the Vietnam War, what did the visual image do? It ended the war."
-Cornell Capa