Wear Good Shoes. Advice from Magnum Photographers. 2017.
01 Learn
“Give it all you’ve got for at least five years and then decide if you’ve got what it takes. Too many great talents give up at the very beginning; the great black hole looming after the comfortable academy years is the number one killer of future talent.”
—Carl De Keyzer
“My advice to photographers is to get out there in the field and take photographs. Finish your course, learn as many languages as possible, go to movies, read books, visit museums, broaden your mind.”
—Martine Franck
Work everyday even without assignments or money –work, work, work to discipline yourself and not for editors or awards. Collaborate with people who are not necessarily photographers but people you admire. The key word to learn is participation!”
—Alex Majoli
“Try everything. Photojournalism, fashion, portraiture, nudes, whatever. You won’t know what kind of photographer you are until you try it. If in your heart you want to take pictures of kitties, take pictures of kitties.”
—Alec Soth
“Photograph things in the way you feel is right, not the way you think you ought to.”
—Chris Steele-Perkins
“Study the works of the greatest photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertesz. Try to travel to many parts of the world and understand what a diverse world we live in.”
—Hiroji Kubota
“Time… It’s all about time. You need lots of it. If you can afford this most cherished commodity, then you will be well on your way. Apart from that, good shoes, a degree of empathy, optimism and lots of spare batteries.”
—Matt Stuart
02 Vision & Voice
“Be yourself and look outside of yourself.”
—Larry Towell
“Be yourself, get up early and don’t try too hard, as whatever is trying to come out will come eventually without any effort. Learn to trust your instincts and don’t worry about what others will think or about the process too much. Work hard but enjoy it.”
—Peter Marlow
“Always be critical, question the conventions of the medium, and reflect on your own position and intentions as an artist.”
—Max Pinckers
“Forget about the profession of being a photographer. First be a photographer and maybe the profession will come after. Make the pictures you feel compelled to make and perhaps that will lead to a career. But if you try to make the career first, you will just make shitty pictures that you don’t care about.”
—Christopher Anderson
“Be yourself. Don’t copy anybody.”
—Harry Gruyaert
03 Passion
“Try to live something intense –at home, abroad, it does not matter. It has to be passionate. And once you know the basics forget about photography.”
—Thomas Dworzak
“Find something you are passionate about and shoot your way through this obsession with elegance and you will have a potentially great project.”
—Martin Parr
“Dig in, follow your instincts and trust your curiosity.”
—Susan Meiselas
04 Consistency
“If you want to be a photographer, you have to photograph. Find a particular place or subject and then dig deep into it and carve out something that is special. That takes a lot of dedication, passion and work.”
—Steve McCurry
“Stick to one project for a long time. And keep working on it through many stages of learning, even if it might feel finished. It’s the only way to break through what I think are some vital lessons that need to be learnt about story telling and how to combine images.”
—Mikhael Subotzky
05 Risk
“Throw yourself off a cliff. Photography is a language. Think about what you want to talk about. What are you interested in? What questions do you want to ask? Then go for it, and throw yourself into talking about that topic, using photography. Make a body of work about that.”
—Jonas Bendiksen
“Make your own mistakes. You need to have your own experience and nobody else can really tell you what to do.”
—Sohrab Hura
