92 Quotes by Richard Avedon

If each photograph steals a bit of the soul, isn't it possible that I give up pieces of mine every time I take a picture?

Just advertising departments with legs and high heels.

People — running from unhappiness, hiding in power — are locked within their reputations, ambitions, beliefs.

People, unprotected by their roles, become isolated in beauty and intellect and illness and confusion.

I never wanted to be called an artist. I wanted to be called a photographer.

My parents put the New Yorker in my crib. I saw Vogue and Vanity Fair around the house before I could read.

I see pictures of myself and I always knew that what I was feeling didn't look like that guy in the pictures.

Click! In other words, I'm in a very controlling position, and I can bring... and I've already... if the camera's on you, your face is very concentrated. You're listening. You don't know what I'm going to say next, and now you're smiling. All these things are the things I work with.

Fashion is where I make my living. I'm not knocking it; it's a pleasure to make a living that way. Then there's the deeper pleasure of doing my portraits.