On November 29th, 2023 the heavens accepted photographer Elliott Erwitt to roost with them on the plane. When he was here on earth, he was known to be one of the greatest and most important photographers alive. He’s known for some incredible tips that make people stare at your images, and his work has been displayed at galleries, museums, etc. Mr. Erwitt also blessed the photography world with several quotes that are bound to inspire photographers everywhere. In the end, we make our own light in the darkness. And hopefully, some of Elliot’s words will help you with the spark you need. Here are some of the best quotes by Elliott Erwitt.
“I don’t like explosions. I don’t mind progress. But digital photography has made every man, woman, child and chimpanzee a photographer of sorts and consequently has numbed down the general quality of photographs.”
We feel in today’s world that this quote by Elliott Erwitt really rings true. And with the inclusion of generative AI, it’s only going to get worse.
“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.”
Essentially, it also means that all of us need to work on creating better images. This is how photographer Sean Fryxell tries to shoot, for example.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
Share the unique perspective you have of something with the world. Don’t copy others.
“All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice”
Try taking off all those fancy features on your camera.
“Quality … has to do with intention.”
Yup, not everything needs to be a massive dump of images on Instagram.
“Good photography is not about ‘Zone Printing’ or any other Ansel Adams nonsense. It’s just about seeing. You either see, or you don’t see. The rest is academic. Photography is simply a function of noticing things. Nothing more.”
Personally, I don’t think Adams was a photographer. He was more of a chemist. But this quote by Elliott Erwitt resounds with us.
“You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy.”
Here, Elliott Erwitt is saying that we need to be more open to the world instead of just letting it fly by us.
The thing is that when you don’t carry a camera, that’s when you see pictures in particular, or at least that’s when you think you see pictures in particular. When you do carry it, if you do see one on the occasion that you do, you can take it.
I’m not a serious photographer like many of my contemporaries. That is to say, I am serious about not being serious.
Always do some sort of personal project.
The ratio of successful shots is one in God-knows-how-many. Sometimes you’ll get several in one contact sheet, and sometimes it’s none for days. But as long as you go on taking pictures, you’re likely to get a good one at some point.
Put the best images on your website. The teasers should go on social media.
Making books is a very specific kind of activity. It’s not really a collection of your best pictures – although it is – but it’s also a way of presenting your work so that it’s not repetitive, so that it flows, and so that it makes sense in a book.
It’s almost embarrassing, but I do have one trick for taking portraits on commission. I carry one of these little bicycle horns in my pocket, and once in a while, when someone is sour-faced or stiff, I blow my horn. It sort of shatters the barriers. It’s silly, but it works.