Much is missed if we have eyes only for the bright colors. Nature should be viewed without distinction... She makes no choice herself; everything that happens has equal significance. Nothing can be dispensed with. This is a common mistake that many people make: They think that half of nature can be destroyed - the uncomfortable half - while still retaining the acceptable and the pleasing side.
Eliot PorterEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside himself by the person who operates the camera.
Eliot PorterThe more you photograph, the more you realize what can and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.
Eliot PorterI do not photograph for ulterior purposes. I photograph for the thing itself - for the photograph - without consideration of how it may be used.
Eliot PorterI don't think it's necessary to put your feelings about photography in words. I've read things that photographers have written for exhibitions and so forth about their subjective feelings about photography and mostly I think it's disturbing. I think they're fooling themselves very often. They're just talking, they're not saying anything.
Eliot Porter