Quotes by Dorothea Lange

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.”

“It is no accident that the photographer becomes a photographer any more than the lion tamer becomes a lion tamer.”

“That frame of mind that you need to make fine pictures of a very wonderful subject, you cannot do it by not being lost yourself.”

“A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.”

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”

“I many times encountered courage, real courage. Undeniable courage. I've heard it said that that was the highest quality of the human animal. I encountered that many times, in unexpected places. An...”

“Being disabled gave me an immense advantage. People are kinder to you. It puts you on a different level than if you go into a situation whole and secure.”

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made...”

“You put your camera around your neck in the morning, along with putting on your shoes, and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that tea...”

“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind. To live a visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable. I have only touched it, just touched it.”

“We live not only inside a body but within a story as well, and our story resides in the land as sure as the vision of Dorothea Lange's desperate, running horse.”