Jay Maisel Quotes

You are responsible for every part of your image, even the parts you’re not interested in.

Color really doesn't have interaction if it's full of colors. It's the interaction or relationship among or between colors that makes a color image. This usually happens with a few colors, not a glut of them.

Always shoot it now. It won't be the same when you go back.

Allow yourself to lose your way.

Forget what it was. Look at what it is.

A photographer's art is more in his perceptions than his execution. In a painter, I think the perception is only the first step, and then you have a kind of hard road of execution.

There are rules about perception, but not about photography.

The more light you have in an image, the less drama you get. The details start taking over; the mystery is all gone.

The drama of light exists not only in what is in the light, but also in what is left dark. If the light is everywhere, the drama is gone.

Never say you're going back - SHOOT IT NOW!

You have to learn not only from your failures. You must also learn from your successes.

When we are given gifts, we must be quick and able to accept them.

I love when pictures ask questions or make others ask questions.

When you shoot, that is opportunity number one to make a statement. When you edit, you have opportunity number two to make your statement. It could be an affirmation of your first choice or could go off in another direction.

'Color' is quite different from 'colors.' In an image with many colors, we find that all the colors compete with each other rather than interacting with each other. The results" colors.

Never put lettering in your photos unless you want it read.

It's not just when you shoot, or what you shot, or where you shoot, it's the combination of the three.

Some have said that if you take a great picture in color and take away the color, you'll have a great black-and-white picture. But if you're shooting something about color and you take away the color, you'll have nothing.

You always end up with too many pictures to edit and too few that you feel 'got it'.

Money and fame that photography can bring you are wonderful, but nothing can compare to the joy of seeing something new.

You must not think of yourself as looking at the stage from the audience. You must think of it as theatre in the round and look at it from all sides.

There is no bad light. There is spectacular light and difficult light. It's up to you to use the light you have.

Remember that most people (those who are not photographers) don't even see the things that you missed. Many don't even look. Ergo, you are way ahead of the game.

The pictures are everywhere. If you're open, they will find you.

It's important to realize that the images are everywhere, not just where you want or expect them to be.

Always wait for the trigger. The trigger is the final part of the puzzle, the reason you want to shoot.

Keep your mind open. You may very well learn something new about yourself and your pictures.

Sometimes as you work, you find that you are learning things about your own perceptions and motivations that are way below you consciousness. If you get lucky, you recognize what you are doing, but all too often we don't find the connection between our work and our own motivations.

Gesture will survive whatever kind of light you have. Gesture can triumph over anything because of its narrative content.

If you can capture the element of surprise, you're way ahead of the game.

Don't overthink things in front of you. I fit moves you, shoot it. If it's fun, shoot it. If you've never seen it before, shoot it.

You find that you have to do many things, more than just lift up the camera and shoot, and so you get involved in it in a very physical way. You may find that the picture you want to do can only be made from a certain place, and you're not there, so you have to physically go there. And that participation may spur you on to work harder on the thing, . . . because in the physical change of position you start seeing a whole different relationship.

The problem suggests the solution.

I try not to tell students where to shoot, when to shoot, or what to shoot. I feel finding the picture is the most important part of being a photographer. The actual shooting is of lesser importance.

Since the background is as important as the subject, you mustn't let it default by chance. You must control not only vertical and horizontal, you must be aware of the depth of field (or lack of it) that you want in the background.

There is no one solution to all problems. It's the problem itself that can lead to the solution.

Be aware of every square millimeter of your frame.

You must be open to what otherwise may seem to be a detriment to your 'plans'.

First, perseverance trumps talent. Second, do what you want to do, otherwise why bother? Third, be ethical; it might rub off on others. Fourth, don't give up.

You see shape, and how the light hits things, how the color changes from one end of the photo to the other, and how movement affects the mood of the photo.

Failing is not a problem. Not trying is a problem.

Every picture should have a place you can go, a home, a climax.

There really isn't anything that you could call 'bad' color. It all has to do with the amount of color you use and in what context it appears.

It's always around. You just don't see it.

You will, in time, see and show others not just the superficial, but the details, the meanings, and the implications of all that you look at.

I'm a New Yorker. I don't believe in air unless I can see it.

Each picture you take has power as long as it brings experience to the person who’s looking at it.

I want to go out as unprepared as possible so I can get filled up with what the world has to offer.