Eve Arnold Quotes & Sayings

“If you are careful with people, they will offer you part of themselves. That is the big secret.”

“It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.”

“I don't see anybody as either ordinary or extraordinary. I see them simply as people in front of my lens.”

“You should never reveal your true age.”

“What I have tried to do is involve the people I was photographing... if they were willing to give, I was willing to photograph.”

“If the chemistry is right between star and photographer and the geometry of the pictures pleases the star, often the two people end up with a long-term professional friendship during which they continue to work together and to produce highly personal images.”

“If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given.”

“I realise that I had the best of serious picture journalism. There was an innocence in our approach, especially in the 1950s and 1960s when we naively believed that by holding a mirror up to the world we could help - no matter how little - to make people aware of the human condition.”

“Recording sessions were stimulating to photograph, because everything was in motion: the subject, the musicians, the technicians and the photographer. You needed fast reflexes to keep up with moving targets, and sensitivity and skill to get the pictures while keeping out of the performers' eyeline so as not to break their concentration.”

“What do you hang on the walls of your mind?”