{"id":14397,"date":"2014-12-22T11:55:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T16:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/?p=14397"},"modified":"2014-12-22T11:55:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-22T16:55:58","slug":"46-quotes-from-jay-maisels-book-light-gesture-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14397\/46-quotes-from-jay-maisels-book-light-gesture-color\/","title":{"rendered":"46 Quotes From Jay Maisel's Book Light, Gesture, Color"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maisel_LGCbook\"<\/a>
\nPhotographer Jay Maisel’s book Light, Gesture &\u00a0Color <\/em>is full of pithy wisdom about the art of seeing.
\nHere’s a selection of highlights.
\n\u201cIf you\u2019re not your own severest critic, you are your own worst enemy.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThe whole world is there for you. Gifts will happen, but only if you are patient with life itself, the shooting process, and your own limitations.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThere is no bad light. There is spectacular light and difficult light. It\u2019s up to you to use the light you have.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThe drama of light exists not only in what is in the light, but also in what is left dark. If the light is everywhere, the drama is gone.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cGesture will survive whatever kind of light you have. Gesture can triumph over anything because of its narrative content.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cWe have always wanted to find the \u2018it-ness\u2019 of anything we shoot. We want to get as deep into the subject as we can.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou will, in time, see and show others not just the superficial, but the details, the meanings, and the implications of all that you look at \u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cOne color alone means nothing. I acts as in a vacuum, with no other colors to relate to. It is only when colors relate to other colors that the fun begins.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cColor is seductive. It changes as it interacts with other colors, it changes because of the light falling upon it, and it changes as it becomes larger in size.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou cannot accurately remember color \u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201c\u2019Color\u2019 is quite different from \u2018colors.\u2019 In an image with many colors, we find that all the colors compete with each other rather than interacting with each other. The results\u201d colors.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThere really isn\u2019t anything that you could call \u2018bad\u2019 color. It all has to do with the amount of color you use and in what context it appears.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cSome have said that if you take a great picture in color and take away the color, you\u2019ll have a great black-and-white picture. But if you\u2019re shooting something about color and you take away the color, you\u2019ll have nothing.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cWhat you\u2019re shooting at doesn\u2019t matter, the real question is: \u2018Does it give you joy?\u2019\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cAlways shoot it now. It won\u2019t be the same when you go back.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou must not think of yourself as looking at the stage from the audience. You must think of it as theatre in the round and look at it from all sides.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t experience light, color, and gesture in a vacuum. We experience it in contexts.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t have a camera, the best thing you can do is describe how great it looked.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to take pictures if you always have the camera with you.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThere is no one solution to all problems. It\u2019s the problem itself that can lead to the solution.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just when you shoot, or what you shot, or where you shoot, it\u2019s the combination of the three.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThe more light you have in an image, the less drama you get. The details start taking over; the mystery is all gone.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cI love when pictures ask questions or make others ask questions.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThe pictures are everywhere. If you\u2019re open, they will find you.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cSometimes without shooting a picture germinates in your head. Other times, you keep taking pictures of the same thing and watch the images mature and grow.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cAs you see something that yo want to shot and it\u2019s bearing down on you, it\u2019s important to start framing long before the subject gets close to you. The light will reveal itself possibly long before you want to take the image, but you have to wait until the picture comes to you, and if you\u2019ve been anticipating carefully when the subject will be in position, the background will have been figured out in advance.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cSince the background is as important as the subject, you mustn\u2019t let it default by chance. You must control not only vertical and horizontal, you must be aware of the depth of field (or lack of it) that you want in the background.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cRemember that most people (those who are not photographers) don\u2019t even see the things that you missed. Many don\u2019t even look. Ergo, you are way ahead of the game.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cGesture is not always action.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cIt\u2019s my obligation to take out all the \u2018wrong\u2019 pictures.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou have to pick the right tool for the point you\u2019re trying to make and there is no one solution.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThe problem suggests the solution.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cSometimes as you work, you find that you are learning things about your own perceptions and motivations that are way below you consciousness. If you get lucky, you recognize what you are doing, but all too often we don\u2019t find the connection between our work and our own motivations.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cThe awareness of the quality of space in out photos is akin to our awareness of the very air in our photos, the atmosphere that pervades every square inch of our image and yet is often invisible to the photographer.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cWhen we are given gifts, we must be quick and able to accept them.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cI try not to tell students where to shoot, when to shoot, or what to shoot. I feel finding the picture is the most important part of being a photographer. The actual shooting is of lesser importance.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou need minimum color for maximum effect.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cAlways wait for the trigger. The trigger is the final part of the puzzle, the reason you want to shoot.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cColor really doesn\u2019t have interaction if it\u2019s full of colors. It\u2019s the interaction or relationship among or between colors that makes a color image. This usually happens with a few colors, not a glut of them.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cForget what it was. Look at what it is.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou have to learn not only from your failures. You must also learn from your successes.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou have to let the past successes go, or you\u2019ll never be able to see anew.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cDon\u2019t overthink things in front of you. I fit moves you, shoot it. If it\u2019s fun, shoot it. If you\u2019ve never seen it before, shoot it.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cHad I not been told to look, I would have quite, ignorant of what was really there, because I had \u2018made plans\u2019 and was wearing visual and emotional blinders that limited my perceptions and my vision.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cAll these factors are only valuable if you\u2019re curious. But in any case, the more knowledge you have, the more things are open and available to you.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou sort of have to be always aware, even when you\u2019re not thinking of shooting. That\u2019s when the best stuff happens.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cWhen you shoot, that is opportunity number one to make a statement. When you edit, you have opportunity number two to make your statement. It could be an affirmation of your first choice or could go off in another direction.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cKeep your mind open. You may very well learn something new about yourself and your pictures.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou must be open to what otherwise may seem to be a detriment to your \u2018plans\u2019.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou always end up with too many pictures to edit and too few that you feel \u2018got it\u2019.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to realize that the images are everywhere, not just where you want or expect them to be.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just turn on when something happens, you have to be turned on all the time. Then things happen.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\n\u201cMoney and fame that photography can bring you are wonderful, but nothing can compare to the joy of seeing something new.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel
\nOf course, all of these insights are made even better when paired with his images.
\nFind the book\u00a0Light, Gesture &\u00a0Color<\/em>\u00a0here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nFind out more about Jay Maisel here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nRead 20 Questions With Jay Maisel here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nRead more quotes by Jay Maisel here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nBrowse my Essential Collection of Photographer’s Quotes here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photographer Jay Maisel’s book Light, Gesture &\u00a0Color is full of pithy wisdom about the art of seeing. Here’s a selection of highlights. \u201cIf you\u2019re not your own severest critic, you are your own worst enemy.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel \u201cThe whole world is there for 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":[16,3202],"tags":[437,1249,53,3395,80],"post_folder":[],"yoast_head":"\n46 Quotes From Jay Maisel's Book Light, Gesture, Color - 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\/14397\/46-quotes-from-jay-maisels-book-light-gesture-color\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"46 Quotes From Jay Maisel's Book Light, Gesture, Color - John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photographer Jay Maisel’s book Light, Gesture &\u00a0Color is full of pithy wisdom about the art of seeing. Here’s a selection of highlights. \u201cIf you\u2019re not your own severest critic, you are your own worst enemy.\u201d \u2013 Jay Maisel \u201cThe whole world is there for you....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14397\/46-quotes-from-jay-maisels-book-light-gesture-color\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-22T16:55:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Maisel_LGCbook.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=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"46 Quotes From Jay Maisel's Book Light, Gesture, Color - 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\/14397\/46-quotes-from-jay-maisels-book-light-gesture-color\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"46 Quotes From Jay Maisel's Book Light, Gesture, Color - John Paul Caponigro","og_description":"Photographer Jay Maisel’s book Light, Gesture &\u00a0Color is full of pithy wisdom about the art of seeing. 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