QuoteProject
It doesn't matter if you use a box camera or you use a Leica; the important thing is what motivates you when you are photographing.
Eve Arnold
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quality of photography depends more on the photographer's motivation than the equipment used.

Eve Arnold expresses that the essence of photography lies in the photographer's passion and intent rather than solely in the tools they use. This highlights the creative spirit behind the art form, suggesting that personal motivation is paramount in producing impactful images, regardless of the technical specifications of the camera itself.

Themes

PhotographyMotivationArtCreativityPassion

In practice

Example use cases

In a photography workshop, to inspire participants to focus on their creative vision rather than their gear.

More from Eve Arnold

The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.
Eve ArnoldRead

Similar quotes

The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle.
Joan DidionRead
How many shows on TV do you see young black people, both women and men, really embody a full-fledged human being, flaws and all?
Yvonne OrjiRead
We are increasingly likely to find ourselves in places with background music. No composers have thought to write for these modern spaces, which represent 30% of our musical experience.
Brian EnoRead
With all the new media outlets out there, with all the noise, a voice of authority and calm like Vogue becomes more important than ever. The more eyes on fashion, the more opinions about fashion, the more exploration of fashion around the world, the better it is for Vogue. Vogue is like Nike or Coca-Cola—this huge global brand. I want to enhance it, I want to protect it, and I want it to be part of the conversation.
Anna WintourRead
For the photograph's immobility is somehow the result of a perverse confusion between two concepts: the Real and the Live: by attesting that the object has been real, the photograph surreptitiously induces belief that it is alive, because of that delusion which makes us attribute to Reality an absolute superior, somehow eternal value; but by shifting this reality to the past ("this-has-been"), the photograph suggests that it is already dead.
Roland BarthesRead
Most of Hollywood is about making money - and I love money, but I don't make the films thinking about money.
David LynchRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.