Edward Steichen Quotes

Edward Steichen — American Photographer born on March 27, 1879, died on March 25, 1973

Edward Jean Steichen was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator... (wikipedia)

I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.

Every other artist begins with a blank canvas, a piece of paper the photographer begins with the finished product.

Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.

When I first became interested in photography, I thought it was the whole cheese. My idea was to have it recognized as one of the fine arts. Today I don't give a hoot in hell about that. The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each man to himself.

There is only one optimist. He has been here since man has been on this earth, and that is man himself. If we hadn't had such a magnificent optimism to carry us through all these things, we wouldn't be here. We have survived it on our optimism.

Edward Steichen Quotes

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