Sam Abell Quotes & Sayings

“Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment - this very moment - to stay.”

“As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.”

“For sheer majestic geography and sublime scale, nothing beats Alaska and the Yukon. For culture, Japan. And for all-around affection, Australia.”

“Life rarely presents fully finished photographs. An image evolves, often from a single strand of visual interest - a distant horizon, a moment of light, a held expression.”

“'Woman on the Plaza,' with its distinct horizon, snow-like surfaces, wintry wall, stunning sunlight, sharp shadows, and hurrying figure, would become the most biographical of my photographs - an abstract image of the landscape and life of northern Ohio where I grew up and first practiced photography.”

“Essentially what photography is is life lit up.”

“A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.”

“It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use.”

“There are grander and more sublime landscapes - to me. There are more compelling cultures. But what appeals to me about central Montana is that the combination of landscape and lifestyle is the most compelling I've seen on this earth. Small mountain ranges and open prairie, and different weather, different light, all within a 360-degree view.”

“My best work is often almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it.”