Do you have a term paper to write for photography class? Are you looking to impress a hot hipster with a lomography fetish? Do you suffer from attention deficit disorder? Then this is the article for you.

It’s nothing more than a mathematically-challenged baker’s dozen of my own personal photography quotes — unadorned with tedious explanatory prose and contextual verbiage. Each quote is something I’ve written, said or thought about photography in the past couple of years.

The reason I’ve gathered and presented them here in easy ‘copy-and-paste’ format is because either 1) I wish to perform a public service to the greater photographic community or 2) I’m too lazy to write a real article. I’m not telling you which.

“If a photograph’s success depends on its technical merits, then I’ve failed as a photographer.” -grEGORy simpson

“Good photographs reveal more of the viewer than the view.” -grEGORy simpson

“I’ve grown disenchanted with taking beautiful photos. I’d rather photograph beautiful things.” -grEGORy simpson

“Although many people label me a street photographer, I have taken very few photos of actual streets.” -grEGORy simpson

“There’s nothing wrong with loving a camera — as long as it remains platonic.” -grEGORy simpson

“Small stories attract me. There can be much significance in the insignificant.” -grEGORy simpson

“I’m not talented enough to take color photos.” -grEGORy simpson

“I want a photograph to ask more questions than it answers.” -grEGORy simpson

“If cameras were meant to have bells and whistles, they’d sell them at party supply stores.” -grEGORy simpson

“To say I photograph human beings is a gross generality. What I photograph is humans being.” -grEGORy simpson

“Focus, Schmocus.” -grEGORy simpson

“You can’t learn to be a good photographer until you first learn to recognize a good photograph.” -grEGORy simpson

“I’d rather take a photo people remember hating than one they don’t remember liking.” -grEGORy simpson

“Nothing is more arbitrary than a level horizon.” -grEGORy simpson

grEGORy simpson is a professional “pounder.” You may find him pounding on his computer keyboard, churning out articles for both the Leica Blog and his own blog at photography.ULTRAsomething.com. Or you may hear him pounding on a musical keyboard, composing music and designing new sounds. Frequently, he’s out pounding city pavement and photographing humans simply being. This third act of pummeling has yielded a new photography book, Instinct, which has given Mr. Simpson a fourth vocation — pounding on doors in an attempt to market the darn thing. Follow these and other photographic exploits on the ULTRAsomething facebook page.