Jay Maisel Quotes

If the light is great in front of you, you should turn around and see what it is doing behind you.

If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you're not out there, you'll only hear about it.

Try to go out empty and let your images fill you up.

If you want to make more interesting pictures, become a more interesting person.

Always carry a camera, it's tough to shoot a picture without one.

Photography is an act of love.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Color is seductive. It changes as it interacts with other colors, it changes because of the light falling upon it, and it changes as it becomes larger in size.

Light gesture and color of the key compliments of any photograph. Light and color are obvious, but it is just her that is the most important. There is gesture in everything. It's up to you to find a gesture that is most telling.

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.

If you're just going to meet consumer or clients' demands, you might as well be a plumber - the work will be more frequently available.

If you're not shooting in the right direction, it doesn't matter how well you're shooting.

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

If you're not your own severest critic, you are your own worst enemy.

... there's one of the great lies of all times, that computers save time. They don't. They're time suckers. So, I'm trying not to get involved in the Photoshop.

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

Had I not been told to look, I would have quite, ignorant of what was really there, because I had 'made plans' and was wearing visual and emotional blinders that limited my perceptions and my vision.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The best camera is the one you have with you.

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

I don't see light as something that falls, but as a positive force.

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

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.

I take pictures, and they are there for the taking. I'll tell you a quote that I have always thought about. Arthur Miller said, I try to create the poem from the evidence.

The composition is already there, you just need to crop it

What you're shooting at doesn't matter, the real question is: 'Does it give you joy?'

As people, we love pattern. But interrupted pattern is more interesting.

You need minimum color for maximum effect.

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.

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

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

The whole world is there for you. Gifts will happen, but only if you are patient with life itself, the shooting process, and your own limitations.

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.

One color alone means nothing. I acts as in a vacuum, with no other colors to relate to. It is only when colors relate to other colors that the fun begins.

Sometimes without shooting a picture germinates in your head. Other times, you keep taking pictures of the same thing and watch the images mature and grow.

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.

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

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