Saul Leiter quotes

In order to build a career and to be successful, one has to be determined. One has to be ambitious. I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music, and to paint when I feel like it. (Saul Leiter)
I didn't try to communicate any kind of philosophy since I am not a philosopher. I am a photographer. That's it.
Saul Leiter
It's quite possible that my work represents a search for beauty in the most prosaic and ordinary places. One doesn't have to be in some faraway dreamland in order to find beauty.
Saul Leiter
I really don't think I was influenced by anyone. I think I will leave it up to someone else to determine who influenced me. I admired a tremendous number of photographers, but for some reason I arrived at a point of view of my own.
Saul Leiter
I don't plan things. As a rule I prefer to see what happens.
Saul Leiter
I don't need to belittle the work of present day photography. I see quite often things that I like and admire. I do digital photography myself. Certain people of my generation decided that the past was better than the present. I am not sure that that is true. I don't want to be one of those people that says the world has come to an end.
Saul Leiter
I never felt the need to do what everyone else did. And I wasn't troubled by the fact that other people were doing other things.
Saul Leiter
I didn't photograph people as an example of New York urban something or other. I don't have a philosophy. I have a camera. I look into the camera and take pictures. My photographs are the tiniest part of what I see that could be photographed. They are fragments of endless possibilities.
Saul Leiter
A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a famous person.
Saul Leiter
I must admit that I am not a member of the ugly school. I have a great regard for certain notions of beauty even though to some it is an old fashioned idea. Some photographers think that by taking pictures of human misery, they are addressing a serious problem. I do not think that misery is more profound than happiness.
Saul Leiter