A woman said to me when she first sat down, You’re photographing the wrong side of my face. I said, Oh, is there one?

About Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunninghamwas an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its dedication to the sharp-focus rendition of simple subjects.

More about the author

More quotes from Imogen Cunningham

I told the students that whatever they did in class was for the wastebasket.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

It’s silly to keep people alive who have a terrible disease.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I don’t talk about success. I don’t know what it is. Wait until I’m dead.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

A woman said to me when she first sat down, You’re photographing the wrong side of my face. I said, Oh, is there one?

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

When I need names they drop out of my head; when I don’t need them they drop back.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I was invited to photograph Hollywood. They asked me what I would like to photograph. I said, Ugly men.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I never stopped photographing. There were a couple of years when I didn’t have a darkroom, but that didn’t stop me from photographing.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I was poor. When you’re poor you work, and when you’re rich you expect somebody to hand it to you. So I think being reasonably poor is very good for people.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

Some people say to me, Isn’t it too bad that people discovered you so late? I never thought that.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

Everybody who does anything for the public can be criticized. There’s always someone who doesn’t like it.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I turn people into human beings by not making them into gods.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I don’t know what love means.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I was brought up on art. My father thought I had a great hand at art and sent me to art school. But he did not want me to become a photographer.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

You see, I became kind of a drop-out in science after I came back to America.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

When People magazine called me, I did the job on Ansel. I’m older than Ansel and he has to mind me.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

When you do portraits professionally it’s not a desire, it’s for money.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

Anybody is influenced by where and how he lives.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I don’t love the world. I think Jupiter should have hit us.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I hate big models.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I’d never kill myself for a man. I wouldn’t do it for anybody.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

My mind is vacant on names, but I know him as well as anything. When I need names they drop out of my head; when I don’t need them they drop back.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I think San Francisco is the best place in the whole world for an easy life.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

There are certain things you don’t discuss with Ansel, especially if you don’t agree.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

Well, I turn people into human beings by not making them into gods.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

Oh, you ask me, what is the greatest torture of a person who does portraits for a living? I could fill several volumes with nice nasty stories. I don’t know.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I became kind of a drop-out in science after I came back to America. I wanted to photograph.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I don’t resent anything.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

When people ask me silly questions about my private life, I just say, I don’t discuss that.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

I don’t think there’s any such thing as teaching people photography, other than influencing them a little. People have to be their own learners. They have to have a certain talent.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)

Get it out of your historic head.

Imogen Cunningham

American photographer (1883-1976)