Quote

I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.

Diane Arbus

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Diane Arbus
Age: 48 †
Born: 1923
Born: March 14
Died: 1971
Died: July 26
Fashion Photographer
Photographer
New York City
New York
Diane Nemerov
Diane Nemerov Arbus
Diane née Nemerov
Diane nee Nemerov
Thought
Firsts
Perverse
First
Naughty
Thing
Photographer
Always
Favorite
Things
Photograph
Photography
Felt

More quotes by Diane Arbus

Image
I mean, if you've ever spoken to someone with two heads, you know they know something you don't.
Diane Arbus
Image
Take pictures of what you fear.
Diane Arbus
Image
If you scrutinize reality closely enough, if in some way you really, really get to it, it becomes fantastic.
Diane Arbus
Image
Lately I've been struck with how I really love what you can't see in a photograph. An actual physical darkness. And it's very thrilling for me to see darkness again.
Diane Arbus
Image
I don't know what good composition is.... Sometimes for me composition has to do with a certain brightness or a certain coming to restness and other times it has to do with funny mistakes. There's a kind of rightness and wrongness and sometimes I like rightness and sometimes I like wrongness.
Diane Arbus
Image
The camera is cruel, so I try to be as good as I can to make things even.
Diane Arbus
Image
Everything is so superb and breathtaking. I am creeping forward on my belly like they do in war movies.
Diane Arbus
Image
Nothing is ever the same as they said it was.
Diane Arbus
Image
I think the most beautiful inventions are the ones you don't think of.
Diane Arbus
Image
I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.
Diane Arbus
Image
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.
Diane Arbus
Image
I never have taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse.
Diane Arbus
Image
The more specific you are, the more general it'll be.
Diane Arbus
Image
I'm very little drawn to photographing people that are known or even subjects that are known. They fascinate me when I've barely heard of them.
Diane Arbus
Image
It would be beautiful to photograph the winners of everything from Nobel to booby prize, clutching trophy, or money or certificate, solemn or smiling or tear stained or bloody, on the precarious pinnacle of the human landscape.
Diane Arbus
Image
I think it does, a little, hurt to be photographed.
Diane Arbus
Image
There's a kind of power thing about the camera. I mean everyone knows you've got some edge. You're carrying some magic which does something to them. It fixes them in a way.
Diane Arbus
Image
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.
Diane Arbus
Image
The camera is a kind of license.
Diane Arbus
Image
One thing I would never photograph is a dog lying in the mud.
Diane Arbus