Eddie Adams Quotes

United States, Photographer
June 12, 1933 – September, 19, 2004.

Eddie Adams was an American photographer and photojournalist noted for portraits of celebrities and politicians and for coverage of 13 wars. He is best known for his photograph of the execution of a Viet Cong soldier, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969. Adams was a resident of Bogota, New Jersey.

I saw a man walk into my camera viewfinder from the left. He took a pistol out of his holster and raised it. I had no idea he would shoot. It was common to hold a pistol to the head of prisoners during questioning. So I prepared to make that picture - the threat, the interrogation. But it didn't happen. The man just pulled a pistol out of his holster, raised it to the VC's head and shot him in the temple. I made a picture at the same time. (On his 1968 photograph of the summary street corner execution of prisoner Nguyen Van Lem by South Vietnam's police chief, Lt. Col. Nguyen Ngoc Loan.)

Eddie Adams
- Camera
- Shoot
- Prisoners
Fear not a thousand accusing fingers, if you are right.

Eddie Adams
- Fear
- Right
- Fingers

I'm not a great believer in the power of the moving image. A still image has greater lasting power.

Eddie Adams
- Moving
- Image
- Believer