Photo Quotes Archive

Quotes by Margaret Bourke-White (8 quotes)

(1904-1971)
An American photographer and photojournalist. She was a woman of many firsts and a forerunner in the newly emerging field of photojournalism and was the first female to be hired as such. She was the first photographer for Fortune magazine and was the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union. She was was the first female war correspondent and the first woman to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II and one of the first to enter and photograph the death camps.
Learn more about Margaret Bourke-White.
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"The element of discovery is very important. I don't repeat myself well. I want and need that stimulus of walking forward from one new world to another. There is something demoralizing about going back to a place to retake pictures. You can no longer see your subjects in a fresh eye; you keep comparing them with the pictures you hold in your memory. [The] world was full of discoveries waiting to be made…(as a photographer) I could share the things I saw and learned…you would react to something all others might walk by."
Photography > Photographer
Quote #88
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"I have always thought that if I could turn back the pages of history and photograph one man, my choice would be Moses."
Photography > Photographer
Quote #314
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"The camera is a remarkable instrument. Saturate yourself with your subject, and the camera will all but take you by the hand and point the way. "
Photography > Equipment
Quote #513
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"By some special graciousness of fate I am deposited -- as all good photographers like to be -- in the right place at the right time. Go into it as young as possible. Bring all the asset you have and play to win."
Photography > Photographer
Quote #514
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"If you want to photograph a man spinning, give some thought to why he spins. Understanding for a photographer is as important as the equipment he uses."
Source: Bourke-White, Margaret. Portait of Myself. 1964.
Photography > Technique
Quote #515
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"As photographers, we live through things so swiftly. All our experience and training is focused toward snatching off the highlights... That all significant perfect moment, so essential to capture, is often highly perishable. There may be little opportunity to probe deeper."
Source: Bourke-White, Margaret. Portrait of Myself. 1964.
Photography > Photographer
Quote #516
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"We are in a privileged and sometimes happy position. We see a great deal of the world. Our obligation is to pass it on to others."
Source: Bourke-White, Margaret. Portrait of Myself. 1964.
Photography > Photographer
Quote #517
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"A kind of golden hour one remembers for a life time... Everything was touched with magic. "
Photography > General
Quote #518
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