Manuel Alvarez Bravo Quotes

#1. I think that light and shadow have exactly the same duality that exists between life and death.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#2. A photographer's main instrument is his eyes. Strange as it may seem, many photographers choose to use the eyes of another photographer, past or present, instead of their own. Those photographers are blind.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#3. I give the moment permanence.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#4. There is no other art with as great a democratic capacity as photography.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#5. Shoot what you see, not what you think.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#6. I think that a visual artist's philosophy develops much more freely than a writer's or a thinker's philosophy. It is not so disciplined. The photographer works with both his eyes and his mind.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#7. I just get the will to do it. I don't plan a photograph in advance ... I work by impulse. No philosophy. No ideas. Not by the head but by the eyes. Eventually inspiration comes-instinct is the same as inspiration, and eventually it comes.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

#8. The word 'art' is very slippery. It really has no importance in relation to one's work. I work for the pleasure, for the pleasure of the work, and everything else is a matter for the critics.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo