Photography Quotes by Roger Ballen

I never think about a photo before I start it. I try to let my mind relax, and then when I get there I…

— Roger Ballen

It is my belief that the most challenging photographs are those that create a tension between what we refer to as the real and…

— Roger Ballen

Life on the planet and in our galaxy is so complex, I don't hope to have any substantial effect in it, but if I…

— Roger Ballen

If an artist is one who spends his life trying to define his being, I guess I would have to call myself an artist.

— Roger Ballen

In the end, I believe that the most important influence on my aesthetic has been the photographs I have taken.

— Roger Ballen

Nothing is staged. And nothing is already there. Everything is transformed through the camera.

— Roger Ballen

I never prepare a speech. I never think when I give a speech, except for "don't embarrass yourself or others," meaning "remember the names…

— Roger Ballen

My best Pictures are the ones I don’t understand.

— Roger Ballen

[My] goal as an artist is to create increasingly complex images with greater and greater clarity of form and intensity of vision.

— Roger Ballen

Black and White is essentially an abstract way to interpret and transform what one might refer to as reality. My purpose in taking photographs…

— Roger Ballen

The pictures are of a psychological culture, a Jungian culture, if you will. It emanates from my own psyche... It's a hard place to…

— Roger Ballen

[Photography] tells you that every second in time is different from every other second. You want people to understand that the image in front…

— Roger Ballen

Black and white is a very minimalist art form and unlike color photographs does not pretend to mimic the world in a manner similar…

— Roger Ballen

When you go searching, you never know what you will find.

— Roger Ballen