Street photography is photography that captures daily life in public places. It is the art of capturing spontaneous moments and unique perspectives of the cityscape through the lens of a camera.
Street photography is a genre that has inspired many photographers throughout history. From Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern street photography, to contemporary photographers like Martin Parr, street photography has always been an exciting and dynamic art form.
In this article, we have compiled 60 of the best street photography quotes from famous photographers, artists, and writers. These quotes will inspire and give you a different perspective on the beauty of street photography.
“The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.” – Robert Doisneau
“Photography is the story I fail to put into words.” – Destin Sparks
“I don’t have a philosophy, I have a camera.” – Saul Leiter
“For me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.” – Garry Winogrand
“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.” – Imogen Cunningham
“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” – Dorothea Lange
“A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second.” – Salman Rushdie
“Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed.” – Garry Winogrand
“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.” – Eudora Welty
“The only photographer you should compare yourself to is the one you used to be.” – Unknown
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” – Aaron Siskind
“It’s not about the camera. It’s not even about the photograph. It’s about the moment the camera captured.” – James Dirks
“The camera is a remarkable instrument. Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand and point the way.” – Margaret Bourke-White
“Photography is a love affair with life.” – Burk Uzzle
“Don’t pack up your camera until you’ve left the location.” – Joe McNally
“To me, photography is the art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt
“We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us.” – Ralph Hattersley
“The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.” – Susan Sontag
“The picture is like a prayer, an offering, and a plea.” – Ansel Adams
“A photograph is like a recipe card – the memory is the food that we create from the ingredients.” – Michael Hardy
“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” – Karl Lagerfeld
“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls.” – Ted Grant
“I think good street photography is a little like surfing, in that sense that you make yourself available for something to happen. And when it does happen, you have to be ready to ride the wave for as long as you can.” – Geoff Dyer
“Photography is painting with light.” – Anonymous
“In street photography, there’s no hiding. You’re out in the middle of the action and have to rely on your own judgment, ability, and courage as a photographer to make a meaningful photograph.” – Alex Webb
“It is not about the camera, but about the eye behind the camera.” – Anonymous
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams
“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.” – Ansel Adams
“The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.” – Robert Mapplethorpe
“There is a photography of saying things, of revealing things. It is a lucid and powerful form of communication.” – Brassai
“When people look at my pictures, I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” – Robert Frank
“The world just does not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera.” – W. Eugene Smith
“Photography is the truth. The cinema is the truth twenty-four times per second.” – Jean-Luc Godard
“The camera’s only job is to get out of the way because if it doesn’t, you’re going to be fighting with it all day long.” – David Alan Harvey
“All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice.” – Elliott Erwitt
“I think life is too short not to be doing something which you really believe in.” – Steve McCurry
“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” – Ansel Adams
“So you’re a photographer? Just because you bought a camera doesn’t make you a photographer any more than buying a guitar makes you a musician.” – Unknown
“To me, photography is the art of frozen time… the ability to store emotion and feelings within a frame.” – Meshack Otieno
“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.” – Diane Arbus
“I think that whether you’re looking for spirituality or not… a great photograph has to have a spiritual component, and by spiritual I mean a visual power that rings true inside us.” – Duane Michals
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt
“What you see is what you get.” – Douglas Kirkland
“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” – Robert Capa
“Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase.” – Percy W. Harris
“Memory is very important, the memory of each photo taken, flowing at the same speed as the event. During the work, you have to be sure that you haven’t left any holes, that you’ve captured everything, because afterward, it will be too late.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Photography is an instant in time. It can be a second that’s gone forever.” – Unknown
“Photography helps people to see.” – Berenice Abbott
“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.” – Diane Arbus
“It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.” – Eve Arnold
“I love the people I photograph. I mean, they’re my friends. I’ve never met most of them or I don’t know them at all, yet through my images, I live with them.” – Bruce Gilden
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” – Ansel Adams
“Ultimately photography is about who you are. It’s the seeking of truth in relation to yourself. And seeking truth becomes a habit.” – Leonard Freed
“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.” – Jim Richardson
“Photography is the power of observation, not the application of technology.” – Ken Rockwell
“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.” – Robert Frank
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt
“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” – Edward Steichen
What is your favorite Street Photography quote? And: Do you already know my Youtube channel?