I wish to state emphatically that I do not believe in any sort of handwork or manipulation on a photographic negative or print.

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

A photographic portrait needs more collaboration between sitter and artist than a painted portrait.

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

Why should not the camera artist break away from the worn out conventions and claim the freedom of expression which any art must have to be alive.

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

I affirm that any sort of photograph is superior to any sort of painting aiming at the same result.

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

An artist is a man who tries to express the inexpressible.

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

My aim in photography is always to convey a mood and not to impart local information. This is not an easy matter, for the camera if left to its own d…

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

It is my hope that photography may fall in line with all the other arts and with her infinite possibilities, do things strange and more fascinating t…

- Alvin Langdon Coburn

Photography makes one conscious of beauty everywhere, even in the simplest things, even in what is often considered commonplace or ugly. Yet nothing …

- Alvin Langdon Coburn