Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams

17 quotes

Ansel Adams is an American photographer and environmentalist whose words have traveled far beyond their original audience. Beyond his black-and-white images of the American West, Ansel Adams proved equally skilled at capturing ideas in a sentence or two. Our collection holds 25 quotes from Ansel Adams, each offering a different angle on Art, Nature, Men, Good, and God. Perhaps their most recognizable line: "You don't take a photograph, you make it."

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

— Ansel Adams

Environmental

All Quotes by Ansel Adams

“Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.”

— Ansel Adams

Art

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.”

— Ansel Adams

Men

“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”

— Ansel Adams

Good

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.”

— Ansel Adams

God

“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”

— Ansel Adams

Experience

“Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.”

— Ansel Adams

Nature

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.”

— Ansel Adams

Great

“You don't take a photograph, you make it.”

— Ansel Adams

Art

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

— Ansel Adams

Environmental

“There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit.”

— Ansel Adams

Art

“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.”

— Ansel Adams

Art

“To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.”

— Ansel Adams

Nature

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

— Ansel Adams

Good

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”

— Ansel Adams

Art

“Myths and creeds are heroic struggles to comprehend the truth in the world.”

— Ansel Adams

Truth

“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.”

— Ansel Adams

God

“Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.”

— Ansel Adams

Men