Quotes by
Peter Adams

I discovered that while many photographers think alike when it comes to equipment and chemistry, there are seldom two who agree on anything when it comes to what constitutes a good image.

Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.

Pundits claim that a ‘picture can tell a thousand words’.
I don’t believe this is entirely true - unless the subject is already well known. It is perhaps more accurate to say that a single photograph can sometimes tell part of a story - but the story will change depending on who is looking at it, the period in which the photograph was made, and where the observer comes from.

A great camera can’t make a great photograph, anymore than a great typewriter can write a great novel.

Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.

The geography of a person’s face can be very interesting, but a close-up will not tell us who the person is, how they think or live, or the situation they’re in.

All the best artists have a philosophy and you just can’t go down to the camera store and get a philosophy. You get it out of living for a while.