{"id":13683,"date":"2014-08-19T08:28:31","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T12:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/?p=13683"},"modified":"2014-08-19T08:28:31","modified_gmt":"2014-08-19T12:28:31","slug":"21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/","title":{"rendered":"21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"England<\/a>
\nHere’s a collection of my favorite quotes by Sam Abell<\/a>.
\n“One of the things that I most believe in is the compose and wait philosophy of photography. It\u2019s a very satisfying, almost spiritual way to photograph. Life isn’t\u2019 knocking you around, life isn’t controlling you. You have picked your place, you\u2019ve picked your scene, you\u2019ve picked your light, you\u2019ve done all the decision making and you are waiting for the moment to come to you….\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cBut there is more to a fine photograph than information. We are also seeking to present an image that arouses the curiosity of the viewer or that, best of all, provokes the viewer to think – to ask a question or simply to gaze in thoughtful wonder. We know that photographs inform people. We also know that photographs move people. The photograph that does both is the one we want to see and make. It is the kind of picture that makes you want to pick up your own camera again and go to work.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cAs 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. Photography, alone of the arts, seems perfected to serve the desire humans have for a moment – this very moment – to stay.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cMy first priority when taking pictures is to achieve clarity. A good documentary photograph transmits the information of the situation with the utmost fidelity; achieving it means understanding the nuances of lighting and composition, and also remembering to keep the lenses clean and the cameras steady.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cAnd that desire – the strong desire to take pictures – is important. It borders on a need, based on a habit: the habit of seeing. Whether working or not, photographers are looking, seeing, and thinking about what they see, a habit that is both a pleasure and a problem, for we seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel. It is the hope that we might express ourselves fully – and the evidence that other photographers have done so – that keep us taking pictures.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cAbove all, it’s hard learning to live with vivid mental images of scenes I cared for and failed to photograph. It is the edgy existence within me of these unmade images that is the only assurance that the best photographs are yet to be made.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cYou know you are seeing such a photograph if you say to yourself, “I could have taken that picture. I’ve seen such a scene before, but never like that.” It is the kind of photography that relies for its strengths not on special equipment or effects but on the intensity of the photographer’s seeing. It is the kind of photography in which the raw materials – light, space, and shape – are arranged in a meaningful and even universal way that gives grace to ordinary objects.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cIn my work, the most elaborate – and essential – accessory is a standard tripod. For spiritual companions I have had the many artists who have relied on nature to help shape their imagination. And their most elaborate equipment was a deep reverence for the world through which they passed. Photographers share something with these artists. We seek only to see and to describe with our own voices, and, though we are seldom heard as soloists, we cannot photograph the world in any other way.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cIt matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201c\u2026just like some people’s instinct to photograph is triggered by vacation… assignments might be that to me and that’s why I’ve built my life around assignments. That was the way to live the photographic life.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cI think of myself as a writer who photographs. Images, for me, can be considered poems, short stories or essays. And I’ve always thought the best place for my photographs was inside books of my own creation.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cThere isn’t an aspect of book creation I don’t enjoy, and there has always been a book in my life to dream about or work on.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cLife 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.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cThe neatest part of this book I’m working on – to me – are the pictures that show the process… Because photographers… think things through and… it isn’t luck, and it isn’t random and it isn’t accidental. It isn\u2019t.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cMy best work is often almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cA mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cIn almost every photograph I have ever made, there is something I would do to complete it. I take that to be the spirit hole or the deliberate mistake that’s in a Navajo rug to not be godlike, but to be human.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cPhotographs that transcend but do not deny their literal situation appeal to me.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cThe best lesson I was given is that all of life teaches, especially if we have that expectation.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cHow the visual world appears is important to me. I’m always aware of the light. I’m always aware of what I would call the ‘deep composition.’ Photography in the field is a process of creation, of thought and technique. But ultimately, it’s an act of imaginatively seeing from within yourself.\u201d – Sam Abell
\n\u201cEssentially what photography is is life lit up.\u201d – Sam Abell
\nFind out more about Sam Abell’s Photographic Life here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nFind more photographer\u2019s quotes here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nView photographer\u2019s favorite quotes here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a collection of my favorite quotes by Sam Abell. “One of the things that I most believe in is the compose and wait philosophy of photography. It\u2019s a very satisfying, almost spiritual way to photograph. Life isn’t\u2019 knocking you around, life isn’t controlling you….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[3202],"tags":[1249,56,80,793],"post_folder":[],"yoast_head":"\n21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell - John Paul Caponigro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell - John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s a collection of my favorite quotes by Sam Abell. “One of the things that I most believe in is the compose and wait philosophy of photography. It\u2019s a very satisfying, almost spiritual way to photograph. Life isn’t\u2019 knocking you around, life isn’t controlling you....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-19T12:28:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/SamAbell_Cowboy_425.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"johnpaulcaponigro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell - John Paul Caponigro","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell - John Paul Caponigro","og_description":"Here’s a collection of my favorite quotes by Sam Abell. “One of the things that I most believe in is the compose and wait philosophy of photography. It\u2019s a very satisfying, almost spiritual way to photograph. Life isn’t\u2019 knocking you around, life isn’t controlling you....","og_url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/","og_site_name":"John Paul Caponigro","article_published_time":"2014-08-19T12:28:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/SamAbell_Cowboy_425.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"johnpaulcaponigro","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/","name":"John Paul Caponigro","description":"Illuminating Creativity","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/SamAbell_Cowboy_425.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/SamAbell_Cowboy_425.jpg","width":425,"height":282},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/","name":"21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell - John Paul Caponigro","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2014-08-19T12:28:31+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-19T12:28:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/858a1050968a36008905f1980aae47b0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/13683\/21-quotes-by-photographer-sam-abell\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"21 Quotes By Photographer Sam Abell"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/858a1050968a36008905f1980aae47b0","name":"johnpaulcaponigro","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/309d46e93fff33337943899d8f3269cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/309d46e93fff33337943899d8f3269cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"johnpaulcaponigro"},"url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/author\/johnpaulcaponigro\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13683"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=13683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}