--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The formula for doing a good job in…" description: "\"The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.\" — Imogen Cunningham" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png" --- # The formula for doing a good job in photography is to… ![“The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.” quote by Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png) > “The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.” [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photography benefits from poetic imagination, encouraging photographers to see beyond technicalities to emotional resonance. **In simple terms:** Think like a poet when shooting. Key Takeaway Blend art with technique. Themes creativity photography art Mood inspired reflective Type artistic educational When to use this quote - portrait sessions - landscape shoots - photo essays Key Concepts visual storytelling poetics Questions to Reflect On - How can you infuse poetry into your images? - What emotions do you want viewers to feel? A Different Perspective Focusing solely on technique may limit expression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Doing A Good Job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-a-good-job/) [Formulas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/formulas/) [Good job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-job/) [Job Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/job-photography-1682067/) [Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jobs/) [Like Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-poet-732694/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Photography Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography-think-626168/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Well, just that there would be somebody in the office and the voters - it was more or less an understanding in the entire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-breyer/well-just-that-there-would-be-somebody-in-the-office-and-the-voters/) [Stephen Breyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-breyer/) > [If you're doing a good job as author, then you get the reader to engage in whatever speculation might be called for. 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Who is creative? How do you know who is creative or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/i-never-divide-photographers-into-creative-and-uncreative-i-just-call/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [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.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/i-never-stopped-photographing-there-were-a-couple-of-years-when-i/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [I wasn't very ambitious. I think that's the solution. I just took things as they came. I wouldn't say I didn't have any problem,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/i-wasn-t-very-ambitious-i-think-that-s-the-solution-i-just-took/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [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.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/i-don-t-think-there-s-any-such-thing-as-teaching-people-photography/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [Some people say to me, Isn't it too bad that people discovered you so late? 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I'm older than Ansel and he has to mind me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/when-people-magazine-called-me-i-did-the-job-on-ansel-i-m-older-than/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [When you do portraits professionally it's not a desire, it's for money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/when-you-do-portraits-professionally-it-s-not-a-desire-it-s-for-money/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [Suppose Cartier-Bresson asked the man who jumped the puddle to do it again --- it never would have been the same. Start stealing!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/suppose-cartier-bresson-asked-the-man-who-jumped-the-puddle-to-do-it/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [There are certain things you don't discuss with Ansel, especially if you don't agree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/there-are-certain-things-you-don-t-discuss-with-ansel-especially-if/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [Oh, you ask me, what is the greatest torture of a person who does portraits for a living? I could fill several volumes with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/oh-you-ask-me-what-is-the-greatest-torture-of-a-person-who-does/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [So many people dislike themselves so thoroughly that they never see any reproduction of themselves that suits. None of us is born with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/so-many-people-dislike-themselves-so-thoroughly-that-they-never-see/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/i-was-poor-when-you-re-poor-you-work-and-when-you-re-rich-you-expect/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [I became kind of a drop-out in science after I came back to America. I wanted to photograph.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/i-became-kind-of-a-drop-out-in-science-after-i-came-back-to-america-i/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) > [ ...There are too many people studying it \[photography\] now who are never going to make it. You can't give them a formula for making… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/there-are-too-many-people-studying-it-photography-now-who-are-never/) [Imogen Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) [Explore all 42 Imogen Cunningham quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/) ## More Formulas quotes > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [What people tend to forget is the journey that I had getting to Formula One. There were plenty of years where I had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-hamilton/what-people-tend-to-forget-is-the-journey-that-i-had-getting-to/) [Lewis Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-hamilton/) > [A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-bad-artist-almost-always-tries-to-conceal-his-incompetence-by/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-andretti/it-is-amazing-how-may-drivers-even-at-the-formula-one-level-think/) [Mario Andretti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-andretti/) > [I understand the formula that producers hire directors and directors are hired to direct and actors are hired to act. 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And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenson-button/i-think-social-networks-are-really-working-for-the-drivers-because-we/) [Jenson Button](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenson-button/) > [There is no secret formula--only a life committed to a close walk with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dillon-burroughs/there-is-no-secret-formula-only-a-life-committed-to-a-close-walk-with/) [Dillon Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dillon-burroughs/) > [This formula of Love is universal; all the laws of Nature are its servitors. Thus, gravitation, chemical affinity, electrical potential, and the rest -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/this-formula-of-love-is-universal-all-the-laws-of-nature-are-its/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) > [The unique essence of being an artist is dying. Eveything looks the same. Now there’s a formula. And it works. - But it takes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/usher/the-unique-essence-of-being-an-artist-is-dying-eveything-looks-the/) [Usher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/usher/) > [If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor. On being reproached that his formula of gravitation was longer and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/if-you-are-out-to-describe-the-truth-leave-elegance-to-the-tailor-on/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [How do you spell peace? P-R-A-Y-E-R! Anything you believe you need is available to you through prayer. We are not talking here about a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyanla-vanzant/how-do-you-spell-peace-p-r-a-y-e-r-anything-you-believe-you-need-is/) [Iyanla Vanzant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyanla-vanzant/) > [Unbelievable how silly this Formula 1 is these days, with this stupid overtakes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-vettel/unbelievable-how-silly-this-formula-1-is-these-days-with-this-stupid/) [Sebastian Vettel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-vettel/) [Browse all 845 Formulas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/formulas/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Imogen Cunningham" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-photography-is-to-think-like-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Formulas" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-photography-is-to-think-like-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/imogen-cunningham-15682_formulas_the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-phot_1759702.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet.” — Imogen Cunningham", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Imogen Cunningham", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imogen-cunningham/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The formula for doing a good...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-photography-is-to-think-like-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imogen-cunningham/the-formula-for-doing-a-good-job-in-photography-is-to-think-like-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```