List of Bill Brandt Quotes

I Consider It Essential That The Photographer Should Do His Own Printing And Enlarging. The Final Effect Of The Finished Print Depends So Much On These Operations.

Sometimes They Are A Matter Of Luck; The Photographer Could Not Expect Or Hope For Them. Sometimes They Are A Matter Of Patience, Waiting For An Effect To Be Repeated That He Has Seen And Lost Or For One That He Anticipates.

Most Photographers Would Feel A Certain Embarrassment In Admitting Publicly That They Carried Within Them A Sense Of Wonder, Yet Without It They Would Not Produce The Work They Do, Whatever Their Particular Field.

In My Portraits I Try To Avoid The Fleeting Expression And Vivacity Of A Snapshot.

The Vital Elements Are Often Momentary, Change-sent Things ... A Gleam Of Light On Water, A Trail Of Smoke From A Passing Train, A Cat Crossing The Threshold. Sometimes They Are A Matter Of Luck, Sometimes Of Patience, Waiting For An Effect To Be Repeated That You Have Seen. It Is Usually Some Incidental Detail That Heightens The Effect Of A Picture, Stressing A Pattern, Deepening The Sense Of Atmosphere.

By Temperament I Am Not Unduly Excitable And Certainly Not Trigger-happy. I Think Twice Before I Shoot And Very Often Do Not Shoot At All. By Professional Standards I Do Not Waste A Lot Of Film; But By The Standards Of Many Of My Colleagues I Probably Miss Quite A Few Of My Opportunities. Still, The Things I Am After Are Not In A Hurry As A Rule.

Photographers Should Follow Their Own Judgment, And Not The Fads And Dictates Of Others. Photography Is Still A Very New Medium And Everything Is Allowed And Everything Should Be Tried And Dared... Photography Has No Rules. It Is Not A Sport. It Is The Result Which Counts, No Matter How It Was Achieved.

But I Did Not Always Know Just What It Was I Wanted To Photograph. I Believe It Is Important For A Photographer To Discover This, For Unless He Finds What It Is That Excites Him, What It Is That Calls Forth At Once An Emotional Response, He Is Unlikely To Achieve His Best Work.

Andre Breton Once Said That A Portrait Should Not Only Be An Image But An Oracle One Questions, And That The Photographer's Aim Should Be A Profound Likeness, Which Physically And Morally Predicts The Subject's Entire Future.

The Good Photographer Will Produce A Competent Picture Every Time Whatever His Subject. But Only When His Subject Makes And Immediate And Direct Appeal To His Own Interests Will He Produce A Work Of Distinction.

If There Is Any Method In The Way I Take Pictures, I Believe It Lies In This: See The Subject First. Do Not Try To Force It To Be A Picture Of This, That Or The Other Thing. Stand Apart From It. Then Something Will Happen. The Subject Will Reveal Itself.

A Good Nude Photograph Can Be Erotic, But Certainly Not Sentimental Or Pornographic.