26 Quotes by Philippe Halsman

This fascination with the human face has never left me... Every face I see seems to hide and sometimes, fleetingly, to reveal the mystery of another human being... Capturing this revelation became the goal and passion of my life.

When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.

I drifted into photography like one drifts into prostitution. First I did it to please myself, then I did it to please my friends, and eventually I did it for the money.

A true portrait should, today and a hundred years from today, the Testimony of how this person looked and what kind of human being he was.

A good portrait is incredibly hard to create, there is too much temptation to pander to the individual rather than portray them as they really were.

The head of the photographer is more important than his camera.

Of the thousands of people, celebrated and unknown, who have sat before my camera, I am often asked who was the most difficult subject, or the easiest, or which picture is my favorite. This last question is like asking a mother which child she likes the most.

Marilyn was history’s most phenomenal love goddess.