Photographic Art Quotes

Quotes of consequence from the arhives of Vic Mitchell. Why should you care? To perhaps better understand what moves me to make these photographs and through that understanding possibly achieve some revelations about yourself. Certainly the process begins with my relationship to the subject, but in the end you find a personal connection to the photograph. At the very least, I hope you find them inspiring.

"At the root of creativity is an impulse to understand, to make sense of random and often unrelated details. For me, photography provides an intersection of time, space, light and emotional stance. One needs to be still enough, observant enough and aware enough to recognize the life of the materials, to be able to 'hear through the eyes'." - Paul Caponigro

"No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer It has chosen." - Minor White

"Every artist, in a sense, is a missionary. He tries to convey a message to his fellow man – he communicates the awesome presence of truth and beauty he discovers in the world around him, in its lakes and mountains, trees, rocks and plants, in its living creatures. Down through the centuries poets, sculptors, painters and now photographers, have also been striving to grasp and immortalize the beauty of the human body, both male and female. I see in these forms the elemental relationship to the large forms of nature; a sense of strength like a rock – fluidity like water – space like a mountain range. If I have chosen the female form in particular, it is because beauty has been debased and exploited in our sensual twentieth century. We seem to have a need to turn innocent nature into evil ugliness by the twist of the mind. Woman has been target of much that is sordid and cheap, especially in photography. To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman, has been my mission – the reason for my work." - Ruth Bernhard

"I respect everything in change and the solemn beauty of life and death. I believe man will obtain freedom of spirit of society, and therefore while man lives amidst the immense beauty of objective bodies, he must possess the capacity of self perfection and must observe and represent his world with full confidence. I believe photography is a tool to express our positive assessment of the world. A tool to acquire ultimate happiness and belief." -- Ansel Adams