Marc Riboud Quotes

The idea of photography as evidence is pure bullshit. A photo is no more proof of any reality than what you may hear being said by someone in a bus. We only record details, small fragments of the world.

I'm often asked: Did you get what you wanted? But how should I know what I wanted? A photo is an encounter, a surprise.

For me photography is not an intellectual process. It is a visual one.... Whether we like it or not, we are involved in a sensual business.

The eye is made to see and not to think.... A good photograph is a surprise. How could we plan and foresee a surprise? We just have to be ready.

Photography is about savoring life at 1/100th of a second.

Choice or freedom of choice is just an existential concern. But for photographers, it's a lifetime's preoccupation.

Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.

My first reaction at the very idea of this interview was to refuse to talk about photography. Why dissect and comment a process that is essentially a spontaneous reaction to a surprise?

Rather than a profession, photography has always been a passion for me, a passion closer to an obsession.

Doubt always hovers nearby, but I take photographs the way a musician hums. Looking is like breathing. So when luck turns my way and offers me a good picture, joy is surely nigh.

Photography cannot change the world, but it can show the world, especially when it changes.