Quotes by
Cornell Capa

What will obviously make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful photographer is the intellectual ‘baggage’ he brings with him. He should have a heightened sense of curiosity and be able to foresee and predict certain sequence very quickly. I think the old-fashioned statement ‘f/8 and be there!’ is true even today. The ability of the photographer to ‘get in’ to shoot is 99 percent of the battle and requires that he be ‘trusted’.

With all the arguments and discussions about the Vietnam War, what did the visual image do? It ended the war.

Photography is demonstrably the most contemporary of art forms; it is the most vital, effective and universal means of communication of facts and ideas between peoples and nations.

The camera is an extension of yourself... Your story treatment may be subjective, but it is important to remain objective as to truth.

Photography has the capacity to provide images of man and his environment that are works of art as well as moments in history.

The concerned photographer produces images in which genuine human feeling predominates over commercial cynicism or disinterested formalism.

Isolated images are not the most representative of my work. What I do best are probably groups of interrelated pictures which tell a story. My pictures are the 'words,' which make 'sentences,' which in turn make up the story.

The idea that any photography can't be personal is madness! ... I see something; it goes through my eye, brain, heart, guts; I choose the subject. What could be more personal than that?

Images at their passionate and truthful best are as powerful as words can ever be. If they alone cannot bring change, they can at least provide and understanding mirror of man’s actions, thereby sharpening human awareness and awakening conscience.

The times I grew up in became part of my conscience and my photography. I was not an artistic photographer and never became one. I haven't taken a landscape picture wich was not part of a story. If I saw a peasant working in a field - which was very difficult for him to do - then I took the picture of a peasant with a field. But I didn't take a field without the peasant.

When you look at my work, you will notice the absence of still lifes and landscapes. I am interested in human beings, their lives, their habitats, their behavior, and their relationships, familial and beyond.