Quotes by Ansel Adams

Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.

There are worlds of experience beyond the world of the aggressive man, beyond history, and beyond science. The moods and qualities of nature and the revelations of great art are equally difficult to define we can grasp them only in the depths of our perceptive spirit.

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.

Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.

Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.

To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.