The Soul of the Camera Quotes

“We are who we are due to the accumulation of all of our influences. The more intentionally and broadly we seek those influences, the more interesting we become. And out of that comes work that is also more interesting.”
― David duChemin, The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer's Place in Picture Making

“As the number of images created and shared - worldwide, every day - increases, so too does the noise. And the noisier it becomes, the harder it is to be heard. Responding to this noise with more noise only makes it harder. The answer is not more photographs. Not more noise. The answer is photographs that connect, photographs that rise above the banal and the solipsistic, the selfie and the trivial. The answer is more humanity. More soul.”
― David duChemin, The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer's Place in Picture Making

“Creativity relies heavily upon our doing.”
― David duChemin, The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer's Place in Picture-Making

“If the task of the artist is to know ourselves, the task of the technician—the craftsman—is to know our tools. When the two meet, magic happens.”
― David duChemin, The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer's Place in Picture-Making

“In a bigger way, submission is not just going with the flow; it’s what allows us to experience flow in the first place. Flow is a state of being that is possible when the challenge of what we do and the skill level with which we do it are high and equal to each other. Flow doesn’t happen when the challenge is vastly too much for our skill: that’s struggle. Nor does it happen when our skill or craft is vastly more capable than our vision demands. That leads to repetition and boredom, as we have likely plateaued. Flow happens when our vision demands the fullness of our craft and pulls us into a state of extreme and almost unconscious focus.”
― David duChemin, The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer's Place in Picture-Making