James Van Der Zee quotes:

I tried to see that every picture was better-looking than the person.

Being an artist, I had an artist's instincts.You can see the picture before it's taken; then it's up to you to get the camera to see

Somebody would come in and say, I never take a good picture. I'd say, Why not? You've got two eyes, a nose, and a mouth like everybody else.

It's a hard job to get the camera to see it like you see it. Sometimes you have it just the way you want it, and then you look in the camera and you don't have the balance. The main thing is to get the camera to see it the way you see it.