18 Quotes by Joyce Tenneson

Find the one thing you’re good at and FOCUS on it.

I very strongly believe that if you go back to your roots, if you mine that inner territory, you can bring out something that is indelibly you and authentic – like your thumbprint. It’s going to have your style because there is no one like you.

I have the same themes over and over again. How I’m saying it keeps changing or growing.

The most important thing is to try and enjoy life because you never know when it will be gone. If you wake up in the morning and have a choice between doing the laundry and taking a walk in the park, go for the walk. You’d hate to die and realize you had spent your last day doing the laundry.

Photographing these flowers has made me see the world differently. It was as if I had lifted a secret veil from a subject I had loved and appreciated my whole life. I offer these photographs with the hope that they will open a new visual or meditative universe for you as well.

Have the utmost respect for your subjects. Love them.

I love feeling that I am opening new worlds for people who don’t have time to investigate these things themselves.

I’ve always been obsessed with penetrating the female psyche. When I shoot, I’m like a tornado. I never sit down, never take a break, never eat. I’m focused on getting that moment of revelation, of insight, of poignancy, of meaning.

I would never censor something to please someone. I don’t play games.