Herb Ritts Quotes

• Many people who excel are self-taught.

  Herb Ritts

  Self, People, Taught

  54 Copy quote

• I think a lot of the time these days people are so concerned about having the right camera and the right film and the right lenses and all the special effects that go along with it, even the computer, that they're missing the key element.

  Herb Ritts

  Thinking, Keys, People

  45 Copy quote

• I like form and shape and strength in pictures.

  Herb Ritts

  Shapes, Photographer, Form

  37 Copy quote

• It's important to let your subjects be themselves.

  Herb Ritts

  Photography, Important, Subjects

  14 Copy quote

• Regardless of whether you speak the language or are familiar with a culture, the picture should hold up.

  Herb Ritts

  Culture, Rehabilitation, Language

  25 Copy quote

• For me, the most important thing I learned was just honing my eye. I think I had a good eye.

  Herb Ritts

  Eye, Thinking, Keys

  20 Copy quote

• I'd go down to the end of my street, to a garage that had a certain feeling about it, or a particular light; I'd take a picture of a friend who needed a head shot. That's how I learned, instead of having school assignments and learning camera techniques.

  Herb Ritts

  School, Light, Feelings

  14 Copy quote

• It's always more comforting to know that in any given corner of any room or any location you're on, you can make a photograph that you'll appreciate.

  Herb Ritts

  Appreciate, Comforting, Rooms

  5 Copy quote

• Within two hours of where I live, you have mountains and desert as location. I like the natural elements that abstract into light, texture, shape and shadow.

  Herb Ritts

  Light, Two, Shadow

  Herb Ritts, Paul Martineau, James Crump (2012). “Herb Ritts: L.A. Style”, p.3, Getty Publications

  20 Copy quote

• Today a lot of things are so celebrity-oriented; it's only because it's celebrity and the photograph is lost. To me it's important to have an image that is a photograph first, not about necessarily who that person is.

  Herb Ritts

  Important, Today, Firsts

  7 Copy quote

• Coming from California and growing up where I did, I've always had a fondness for and innate sensitivity to light, texture, and warmth.

  Herb Ritts

  Growing Up, Light, California

  5 Copy quote

• To me it's just going for the moment that counts. Sometimes, I'll have all the elements there, and I like to play and push something, and to me, in the end, you do achieve things that you're not aware of in the beginning, even though you're there trying to get them.

  Herb Ritts

  Play, Trying, Elements

  9 Copy quote

• The education, the cultural awareness, is different in Europe, especially in France, from that in the United States. So I think the public will be much more appreciative of many images.

  Herb Ritts

  Thinking, Europe, United States

  9 Copy quote

• I abstract it in my photographs: I like large planes and spaces, areas of texture and light, like deserts or oceans or monumental places.

  Herb Ritts

  Ocean, Light, Space

  5 Copy quote

• Being an American is about having the right to be who you are. Sometimes that doesn't happen.

  Herb Ritts

  Be Who You Are, Liberty, Sometimes

  5 Copy quote

• I always enjoyed art history because, growing up in California, my exposure was limited, and it was a new experience. To learn the history of art opened up certain things to me, made me see. It intrigued me.

  Herb Ritts

  Art, Growing Up, California

  60 Copy quote

• I think knowing people by first names, not by what they do sexually, is really what it's about. Not being afraid. Fear is the enemy. I've always been comfortable with being gay.

  Herb Ritts

  Gay, Thinking, Names

  14 Copy quote

• I was an economics major, which I enjoyed because I had a good business sense.

  Herb Ritts

  Economics, Good Business, Business Sense

  5 Copy quote

• Well, I liked it - that was the main thing. I liked it, but I didn't think of it in terms of a career. I didn't really know; I didn't really think about it. One thing just led to another until finally I quit my job as a salesman and found myself working as a photographer.

  Herb Ritts

  Photography, Jobs, Thinking

  5 Copy quote

• Actually, when I first started dabbling in photography, I was still working for my parents as a salesman.

  Herb Ritts

  Photography, Parent, Firsts

  5 Copy quote

• Each time I did assignments or editorials, I realized that I wanted to do something more. I saw that it wasn't just about the clothes.

  Herb Ritts

  Clothes, Saws, Assignments

  5 Copy quote

• What I particularly liked was that, coming from California and not being involved in the New York scene, I developed my personal way, in my own way, at my own pace.

  Herb Ritts

  New York, Hygiene, California

  8 Copy quote

• Generally, the French highly promote culture and the arts, and photography is in their blood.

  Herb Ritts

  Photography, Art, Blood

  7 Copy quote

• I'm pretty selective. I generally edit the contact sheets and then do work prints. Because I have my own lab and printers, I can afford the luxury of going through the contact sheets for black-and-white, making up work prints, seeing them big, and honing them down.

  Herb Ritts

  Black And White, Luxury, Labs

  8 Copy quote

• And what excites me most is the type of public, the fact that the Parisian people have a broader cultural understanding than many Americans do.

  Herb Ritts

  People, Understanding, Facts

  5 Copy quote

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