![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/08_Porter.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside himself by the person who operates the camera.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n “You learn to see by practice. It’s just like playing tennis. You get better the more you play. The more you look around at things. The more you see. The more you photograph. The more you realize what can be photographed and what can’t be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.” – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cPhotographs are believed more than words; thus they can be used persuasively to show people who have never taken the trouble to look what is there.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cPhotography is a strong tool, a propaganda device, and a weapon for the defense of the environment…and therefore for the fostering of a healthy human race and even very likely for its survival.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think it\u2019s necessary to put your feelings about photography in words. I\u2019ve read things that photographers have written for exhibitions and so forth about their subjective feelings about photography and mostly I think it\u2019s disturbing. I think they\u2019re fooling themselves very often. They\u2019re just talking, they\u2019re not saying anything.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cI do not photograph for ulterior purposes. I photograph for the thing itself \u2014 for the photograph \u2014 without consideration of how it may be used.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cYou learn to see by practice. It’s just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can’t be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cBut before all else a work of art is the creation of love. Love for the subject first and for the medium second. Love is the fundamental necessity underlying the need to create, underlying the emotion that gives it form, and from which grows the unfinished product that is presented to the world. Love is the general criterion by which the rare photograph is judged. It must contain it to be not less than the best of which the photographer is capable.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cMy emotions, instincts, and interests are all with nature.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n \u201cMuch is missed if we have eyes only for the bright colors. Nature should be viewed without distinction… She makes no choice herself; everything that happens has equal significance. Nothing can be dispensed with. This is a common mistake that many people make: They think that half of nature can be destroyed \u2014 the uncomfortable half \u2014 while still retaining the acceptable and the pleasing side.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n View 1 2 Great Photographs By Eliot Porter.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> Enjoy this collection of quotes by Eliot Porter. \u201cEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside…<\/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":[1249,2935,56],"post_folder":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/a> Enjoy this collection of quotes by Eliot Porter.<\/p>\n
\nView a documentary on Eliot Porter here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nExplore The Essential Collection Of Quotes By Photographers.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\n<\/a> Enjoy this collection of quotes by Eliot Porter.<\/p>\n\u201cEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside himself by the person who operates the camera.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n“You learn to see by practice. It’s just like playing tennis. You get better the more you play. The more you look around at things. The more you see. The more you photograph. The more you realize what can be photographed and what can’t be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.” – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cPhotographs are believed more than words; thus they can be used persuasively to show people who have never taken the trouble to look what is there.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cPhotography is a strong tool, a propaganda device, and a weapon for the defense of the environment…and therefore for the fostering of a healthy human race and even very likely for its survival.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cI don’t think it\u2019s necessary to put your feelings about photography in words. I\u2019ve read things that photographers have written for exhibitions and so forth about their subjective feelings about photography and mostly I think it\u2019s disturbing. I think they\u2019re fooling themselves very often. They\u2019re just talking, they\u2019re not saying anything.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cI do not photograph for ulterior purposes. I photograph for the thing itself \u2014 for the photograph \u2014 without consideration of how it may be used.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cYou learn to see by practice. It’s just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can’t be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cSometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cBut before all else a work of art is the creation of love. Love for the subject first and for the medium second. Love is the fundamental necessity underlying the need to create, underlying the emotion that gives it form, and from which grows the unfinished product that is presented to the world. Love is the general criterion by which the rare photograph is judged. It must contain it to be not less than the best of which the photographer is capable.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cMy emotions, instincts, and interests are all with nature.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\n\u201cMuch is missed if we have eyes only for the bright colors. Nature should be viewed without distinction… She makes no choice herself; everything that happens has equal significance. Nothing can be dispensed with. This is a common mistake that many people make: They think that half of nature can be destroyed \u2014 the uncomfortable half \u2014 while still retaining the acceptable and the pleasing side.\u201d – Eliot Porter<\/p>\nView 1 2 Great Photographs By Eliot Porter.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\nView a documentary on Eliot Porter here.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\nExplore The Essential Collection Of Quotes By Photographers.<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enjoy this collection of quotes by Eliot Porter. \u201cEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside…<\/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":[1249,2935,56],"post_folder":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Quotes By Photographer Eliot Porter - 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\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Quotes By Photographer Eliot Porter - John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Enjoy this collection of quotes by Eliot Porter. \u201cEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-02T15:55:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-21T20:23:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/08_Porter.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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Quotes By Photographer Eliot Porter - 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\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 Quotes By Photographer Eliot Porter - John Paul Caponigro","og_description":"Enjoy this collection of quotes by Eliot Porter. \u201cEvery photograph that is made whether by one who considers himself a professional, or by the tourist who points his snapshot camera and pushes a button, is a response to the exterior world, to something perceived outside...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/","og_site_name":"John Paul Caponigro","article_published_time":"2015-04-02T15:55:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-21T20:23:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/08_Porter.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"johnpaulcaponigro","Est. reading time":"3 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\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/08_Porter.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/08_Porter.jpg","width":425,"height":556},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/","name":"10 Quotes By Photographer Eliot Porter - John Paul Caponigro","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-04-02T15:55:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-21T20:23:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/858a1050968a36008905f1980aae47b0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14875\/10-quotes-by-photographer-eliot-porter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 Quotes By Photographer Eliot Porter"}]},{"@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\/14875"}],"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=14875"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45910,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14875\/revisions\/45910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14875"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=14875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/zinfandel-blue-10\/images\/06_Porter.jpg\"){kind=link}