by Gavin Seim: Anyone can learn to use a camera to capture snapshots of time. That’s valuable for history and for precious memories. But it takes more to be a skilled photographer. Not just a picture taker, but a picture maker.

It takes tireless study, practice and long experience. I contend it’s no easier than being a sculptor or a doctor. A lawyer, or a painter. It requires being a skilled technician, a craftsman and a creative director. It’s neither fast or easy. But it’s one of the most rewarding skills one can study and master.

But that’s just my opinion. So I’ve scoured websites, videos, books and even picked up the phone for thoughts about photography from many of the renowned masters of it’s history. Thoughts that seem resound it’s ever alluring call. Reminding us to return to the basics of what makes a great photograph and perhaps to remember, that digital is just a baby next to more than a hundred fifty years of photographic history… Gav

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• “The whole key lies very specifically in seeing it in the minds eye which we call visualization” – Ansel Adams
• “If continually people look and look and always come away enriched, then it’s a great work” – Sister Wendy.
• “If I have any ‘message’ worth giving to a beginner it is that there are no short cuts in photography.” – Edward Weston
• “The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster.” – Ansel Adams
• “Tone” may be the least understood, and least utilized factor in composing and finishing images” –  Ken Whitmire
• “A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” – Edward Steichen
• “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams
• “It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” – Paul Caponigro
• “Becoming a professional artist takes talent and perseverance, even more so when the field is photography.” – Clyde Butcher
• “Never put lettering in your photos unless you want it read.” – Jay Meisel
• “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” – Ansel Adams
• “In photography there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated.” – August Sander
• “If you have enough craft, you’ve done your homework and you’re practiced. You can then make the photograph you desire.” – Ansel Adams
• “No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film. – Robert Adams
• “A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into.” – Ansel Adams
• “Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.” – Margaret Bourke-White
• “We have glorified the camera itself. Which is only a tool.” Ken Whitmire
• “Photography is the power of observation, not the application of technology.” – Ken Rockwell
• “There are two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer.” – Ansel Adams
• “A sloppy performance in a photograph is as distressing as a sloppy performance in music.” – Fred Picker
• “Be aware of every square millimeter of your frame.” – Jay Meisel
• “We are basically directors of images. Our objective is to attract the eye and leave an impression the mind.” – Ken Whitmire
• “There is nothing worse than a brilliant image of a fuzzy concept.” – Ansel Adams
• “No photographer is as good as the simplest camera. – Edward Steichen
• “A better camera won’t do a thing for you if you don’t have anything in your head or in your heart.” – Arnold Newman