Quotes from Ruth Bernhard

I had a natural feeling for sculpture, and the nudes are my sculpture.

It seems a perfectly normal thing to be 95.

I never took a photograph. Instead, I became a good listener.

I learned early on that if I was to get attention, I would have to be charming. Even the models I've photographed are often like that. Some of them are not beautiful. But, if you catch them in the right light, they glow.

I've always photographed beauty, but I've never been beautiful myself.

I look at ordinary objects, and I see things that other people don't see. That's why I'm a photographer.

Photographs speak to me, and I obey.

Remember God likes us best when we are flying by the seats of our pants.

When I was young, anywhere I would go in Germany, I would see my father's posters. Everyone knew about him. And he had many friends who were artists who were also quite famous. So, for me, it seemed very natural to be an artist and be known.

I was a very, very careful printer when I used 8-by-10 film. I probably spent more time on printing than anything else. The more the prints were appreciated, the more time I spent on them.

If I have chosen the female form in particular, it is because beauty has been debased and exploited in our sensual 20th century.

I never question what to do, it tells me what to do. The photographs make themselves with my help.

If youre not interested in life, then photography has no meaning

#1 Never Get Used to Anything.

I allowed life to give me presents. And everything just sort of happened the way it was supposed to happen. I did not pursue anything. It more or less pursued me.

I never question what to do, it tells me what to do. The photographs make themselves with my help.

The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations - each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony.

There is no such thing as taking too much time, because your soul is in that picture.

You have to follow your instinct all the time. Otherwise you don't make it.

To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman has been my mission.

I have no regrets about my work. To be a photographer was a gift of the gods. I can't imagine anything that would have been better.

The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations - each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony.

Fall in love. Every day. With everything. With life. If you can fall in love, you can be a photographer. I think that is absolutely essential.

My quest, through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify, and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity.