Ruth Bernhard

Seeing comes from the inside, from the heart, from life's experiences.

I feel that everything has to come from the heart, and it cannot come from the intellect.

Photographs speak to me, and I obey.

I think of the nudes as seed pods, like flowers or grasses. They are universal bodies.

Everything I do is a metaphor of the universal order.

I had a natural feeling for sculpture, and the nudes are my sculpture.

I was a very, very careful printer when I used 8-by-10 film. I probably spent more time on printing than anything else. The more the prints were appreciated, the more time I spent on them.

I'm no snapshot artist. I make very careful choices always, even if I'm using a 35mm camera.

I look at ordinary objects, and I see things that other people don't see. That's why I'm a photographer.

I allowed life to give me presents. And everything just sort of happened the way it was supposed to happen. I did not pursue anything. It more or less pursued me.

If I have chosen the female form in particular, it is because beauty has been debased and exploited in our sensual 20th century.

My quest, through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify, and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity.

I never question what to do, it tells me what to do. The photographs make themselves with my help.

I never took a photograph. Instead, I became a good listener.

To indicate the ideal proportion and reveal sculptural mass and the dominating spirit is my goal.

I have no regrets about my work. To be a photographer was a gift of the gods. I can't imagine anything that would have been better.

I always say yes to everything because I always feel that whatever comes my way, life meant for me.

I've always photographed beauty, but I've never been beautiful myself.

To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman has been my mission.

I understood the craft of photography when done by an artist is art.