There are no forms in nature. Nature is a vast, chaotic collection of shapes. You as an artist create configurations out of chaos. You make a formal statement where there was none to begin with. All art is a combination of an external event and an internal eventโฆ I make a photograph to give you the equivalent of what I felt. Equivalent is still the best word.
Ansel AdamsI know the importance of highly trained awareness of the โmomentโ and the immediate and intuitive response of the photographer. It should be obvious to all that photographers whose images possess character and quality have attained them only by continued practice and total dedication to the medium.
Ansel AdamsKnowing what I know now, any photographer worth his salt could make some beautiful things with pinhole cameras.
Ansel AdamsPhotography is an investigation of both the outer and the inner worlds. The first experiences with the camera involve looking at the world beyond the lens, trusting the instrument will 'capture' something 'seen.' The terms shoot and take are not accidental; they represent an attitude of conquest and appropriation. Only when the photographer grows into perception and creative impulse does the term make define a condition of empathy between the external and the internal events.
Ansel Adams