Rene Burri Quotes

On digital photography: It's fantastic, but it's not a freebie for anything. You still have to have this (he points to his eyes), and this (points to his heart), and feet.

My photography is the result of being there at the right moment.

I suddenly had to chase after my pictures ... Pictures are like taxis during rush hour - if you're not fast enough, someone else will get there first.

In 1958, a year before the revolution, Magnum wanted to send me to Cuba because they had contacts with the rebels. I'd just spent six months in South America and said 'No', so I missed everything.

I never thought I would become a photographer.

A photograph is a moment - when you press the button, it will never come back.

I lived and grew up in the black and white period of photojournalism.

The camera has always been a magic wand for me, giving me access to places where I could try new experiments.

Everyone takes pictures, so you need to have your own opinion.

I think that's the strength of photography - to decide the decisive moment, to click in the moment to come up with a picture that never comes back again.

I never had the time or luxury to think about inventing my own colour theory. When colour came, I was interested in expressing things that happened around me in time.

I grew up in Switzerland, in this kind of rigidity. It was Protestant, and I was rather shy. That influenced me a lot.

It took me six years to get close to Picasso. I learnt a lot from him, and he was an absolute genius. He almost became my grandfather at the time. It was like he was a magician or something.

One of these days, I'm going to publish a book of all the pictures I did not take. It is going to be a huge hit.

I witnessed the building of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the first orbiter to be launched into space.

A digital camera has to be kept in check like a racehorse.