72 Wedding Photography Quotes for Inspiration

The wedding photography business isn’t just about picking up a camera and taking stunning photos. It’s hard work that also involves planning strategies that will help you take your business to the next level. And sometimes, it can also get stressful, especially during tough times like the coronavirus pandemic. However, as a wedding photographer, you can do so many things to stay inspired and motivated – learning new techniques, exploring other photographers’ work, reading inspirational stories – the list is endless. If you feel uninspired or are going through a tough time, then this blog might just help to lift your spirits. In this blog, we have listed 72 of the best wedding photography quotes you can use for inspiration or perhaps for some engaging Instagram captions!

Inspirational Wedding Photography Quotes For Your Business

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced wedding photographer, everyone can use some inspirational quotes! These wedding photography quotes can help refresh your mind and remind you why you chose this profession in the first place.

1. We are making photographs to understand what lives mean to us. — Ralph Hattersley

2. It is a profound honor as a photographer to witness two people falling in love. – Jesh de Rox

3. If I can dig deeper and show more of who people are, aside from it being a wedding day, then I feel I’ve succeeded. Usually, at the end of the night, that comes out. The party’s over, and they one hundred percent become themselves.  — Tyler Wirken

4. How many frames do we need to remember someone or someplace? Most people only really need one, so I divide the day into sections: Getting ready, the ceremony, etc., and I try to create one image which inspires me for every section, which just defines that moment. — Fer Juaristi

5. You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved. ― Ansel Adams

6. A camera alone does not make a picture. To make a picture, you need a camera, a photographer and above all a subject. It is the subject that determines the interest of the photograph. ― Man Ray

7. A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective. ― Irving Penn

8. I have always been fascinated by the poetic condition of twilight. By its transformative quality. Its power of turning the ordinary into something magical and otherworldly. ― Gregory Crewdson

9. Your inspiration is better if it comes from many different sources, and your sensibilities will transform all those influences and inspiration into your own visual world. It’s like reading a book instead of watching a movie. ― Peter Lindbergh

10. The golden rule in the arts, as far as I am concerned, is that all rules are meant to be broken. ― Michael Kenna

Suggested Read: Wedding Photography Styles: ShootDotEdit’s Favorites

11. We see in color all the time. Black and white is therefore immediately an interpretation of the world, rather than a copy. ― Michael Kenna

12. After following the crowd for a while, I’d then go 180 degrees in the exact opposite direction. It always worked for me. ― Elliott Erwitt

13. Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like. ― David Alan Harvey

14. Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second. ― Marc Riboud

15. In photography and in life, always look for the light, if you don’t see it, bring it. —  John Waire

16. A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people. — Annie Leibovitz

17. If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument. — Eve Arnold

18. It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness. — Paul Strand

19. Anyone can shoot chaos. But the most perceptive photographers can make compelling pictures out of uninteresting moments. — Alex Tehrani

20. When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls! — Ted Grant

Suggested Read: Black And White Wedding Photos: Why They Are Timeless

21. Photography is for me, a spontaneous impulse that comes from an ever-attentive eye, which captures the moment and its eternity. — Henri Cartier Bresson

22. What I’m trying to say is, find ways to inspire yourself and your clients by taking on challenges and thinking fast in situations that aren’t inspiring, make them inspiring. — Jose Villa

23. People feel good in front of the camera only when you learn to help them feel comfortable being there! It is about infusing them with your passion and educating them about how much they will enjoy the process. — David Beckstead

24. When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice. — Robert Frank

25. Photography has been my way of bearing witness to the joy I find in seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. — Harold Feinstein

26. What we are doing is providing a space for couples to see how beautiful they really are. — Jesh de Rox

27. Regarding the creative: Never assume you’re the master, only the student. Your audience will determine if you’re masterful. — Don Roff

28. Most of my photos are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. — Steve McCurry

29. What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce. — Karl Lagerfeld

30. Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. — Dorothea Lange

Related Read: 26 Inspirational Photography Quotes To Make Your Day

31. You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life. — Joan Miro

32. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. — Yousuf Karsh

33. It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are. — Paul Caponigro

34. Great photography is about the depth of feeling, not the depth of field. — Peter Adams

35. Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow. — Imogen Cunningham

36. I like to photograph anyone before they know what their best angles are. — Ellen von Unwerth

37. Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure. — Tony Benn

38. A good snapshot keeps a moment that’s gone from running away. — Eudora Welty

39. To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. — Elliott Erwitt

40. The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer. — Steven Pinker

Wedding Photography Quotes That Beginners Will Relate To

41. The most important thing at a wedding is to photograph the bride. The second most important thing is not to forget the groom. — Alix Reuters

42. If you force it and you keep looking for moments then you’ll end up shooting what you think the wedding should look like rather than actual moments that are unfolding in front of you. — Joe Buissink

43. It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart, and head. — Henri Cartier-Bresson

44. Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even if it is clumsy, that doesn’t look like somebody else’s work. — William Klein

45. In my mind, I visualize how a particular… sight will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice. — Ansel Adams

46. Once photography enters your bloodstream, it is like a disease. — Anonymous

47. Photography is an itch that won’t go away. No matter how much you scratch it. — Dara McGrath

48. Just be prepared to look back in a few years on yourself, and your photos, and laugh. — Ben Chrisman

49. You know, I really don’t think you learn from teachers. You learn from work. I think what you learn, really, is how to be – you have to be your own toughest critic, and you only learn that from work, from seeing work. — Garry Winogrand

50. The formula for doing a good job in photography is to think like a poet. — Imogen Cunningham

51. Skill in photography is acquired by practice, and not by purchase. — Percy W. Harris

52. Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. — George Eastman

Related Read: Top 5 Tips: Photography Lighting Basics For Any Location

53. If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it. — Jay Maisel

54. Don’t pack up your camera until you’ve left the location. — Joe McNally

55. If I have any ‘message’ worth giving to a beginner it is that there are no shortcuts in photography. — Edward Weston

56. A good photographer records; a great photographer reveals. — Skyler Reid

57. John White, another Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer at the Sun-Times once told me he photographed every sunrise. In disbelief, I inquired why? He simply said he didn’t want to miss the really great one. — Jack Dykinga

58. There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. — Ansel Adams

59. When [you] acquire an understanding of the science behind light and what governs it, then [you] can predict its behavior and control the lighting in [your] photographs. — Roberto Valenzuela

60. The best images are the ones that retain their strength and impact over the years, regardless of the number of times they are viewed. — Anne Geddes

61. There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are. — Ernst Haas

62. Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. — Cecil Beaton

Related Read: Being Diverse Wins The Day: Love By Joe Mac

63. To me, it is better to ‘guess’ at how something works, experiment, fail, guess again, fail, and keep repeating that process over and over again until you either figure it out or you discover a multiplicity of other cool tricks along the way. — Trey Ratcliff

64. Creativity needs to extend beyond the lens. Find creative ways to showcase your work and get it seen. Straight up tenacity, hard work, and determination will always be part of the equation, so get to it. — Jimmy Chin

65. Don’t look at other wedding photographer’s work. When you walk into a room, find the one thing that you are attracted to and focus on that. Your instincts will guide you to finding an image that you love. — Ben Chrisman

66. A good photograph is knowing where to stand. — Ansel Adams

67. Photography is the beauty of life captured. — Tara Chisolm

68. It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter. — Alfred Eisenstaedt

69. We don’t learn from our good images; we learn from the ones that can be improved on. — Jen Rozenbaum

70. Fear is the thing that prohibits a lot of photographers from reaching their full potential. — Collin Pierson

71. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures. — Don McCullin

72. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever. — Henri Cartier-Bresson

Use These Photography Quotes to Stay Inspired, Motivated  

If you have been feeling low or growing your wedding photography business seems to be a challenge currently, don’t worry, you are not alone. Even though 2020 put a damper on many businesses around the world, especially those in the wedding photography industry, use 2021 to get back in the game! But do remember to stay safe as you do that. Now that weddings have resumed, we hope these wedding photography quotes will motivate you to get out there and do what you love! 

At ShootDotEdit, we love inspiring you and keeping you motivated even when you are going through a rough time. We also help to lessen wedding photographers’ post-production workload by offering professional photo editing services. To learn more about how we can help your wedding photography business, you can check out our pricing plans.