So here we are, presenting the annual PDML Quotations List once again. As usual it's an eclectic and somewhat random assortment. I basically pick anything that strikes me as funny, useful or profound at the moment I first see it, so it's entirely a product of my own taste and whims ...and of when I happen to be reading the list. I do take time off from the PDML occasionally, for business trips, vacations and for when life gets just too busy to pay much attention. Thus, there may be gaps of several weeks in the record, during which amazing things may have been written and entirely missed by me. So sue me.

The first quotation was chosen to go up front. And the last one was selected specifically for location, too. But everything in between is pretty much (pretty much) in the order in which it appeared on list, with the newest at the top and the oldest at the bottom. Other than that, I haven't specifically arranged anything, so if one quotation seems to be directly responding to the one before it, it's probably serendipity.

Someone reading those quotes out of context would think I was crazy. Heck, they'd think we were all crazy. That is as opposed, of course, to reading them in context, which would remove any doubt.

— P.J. Alling

Sounds like that 72 virgins thing. Sometimes men are so gullible.

— Marnie AKA Doe

I hear a scream, no not from good sex, but from the kitchen.

— Dave Brooks

I got some film for Xmas. Film and I've got a bicycle! I think it's 1977 where I live.

— Malcolm Smith

When what one says is essentially meaningless, that utterance is equally effective no matter the context.

— Frank Theriault

There's only so much Bisquick you can take.

— Doug Brewer (Taken from his blog because he doesn't post to the list enough)

As it is your site is an exercise in how not to present your images online.

— Adam Maas

You want your center verticals to be perpendicular to the baseline and horizon. Usually. Frank would disagree.

— Paul Stenquist

One can't know what to expect from 'peer judging' when one is peerless.

— Frank Theriault

Film??!?? Good heavens. How quaint.

— Rick Womer

They're just pixels. They exist only because you allow them to and they're willing to die in service to you:-).

— Paul Stenquist

It would have been cheaper to skip the lawyer and just buy a Leica.

— Scott Loveless

When I'm not writing emails, I'm a pretty reasonable guy.

— Bill Robb

I have modest lusts.

— Bob Blakely

Now THAT'S a cat photo!

— Christian Skofteland

As a long time portrait shooter, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that your instructor was full of manure.

— Bill Robb

You should try it. It's fun. In a pulling-your-own-teeth-with-vice-grips sort of way.

— Scott Loveless

Event photography is like making love — position is important but timing is everything.

— Stan Halpin

You're like my dog. He can't find any use for my hammer either.

— Bob Blakely

I try to only show the good stuff, but sometimes I have a lapse in judgment.

— Dave Savage

If I can't capture a timber wolf racing through a dense forest by starlight, the glass is NOT fast enough and the ISO is NOT high enough!

— Bob Blakely

One never needs new lenses. You only have to think creatively and use the lenses you have.

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

I would rather miss the shot of a lifetime than have to listen to beeps.

— Joseph Tainter

Getting to the wrong place quickly rarely helps anyone.

— Doug Franklin

Every shot is a learning experience, if you're willing to learn from it, even if the lesson is 'that was a waste of time/space/film'.

— Adam Maas

Sometimes the best choice is to not push the button, and look elswhere for a picture.

— Bill Robb

It's 'ok' I guess... I mean if beautiful scenery, captured artistically and nicely composed is your thing

— Christian Skoftland

I always photograph shit with a telephoto lens.

— Scott Loveless

You are not taking enough pictures of blonde, blue-eyed baby girls.

— Mike Wilson

Pentax suggests that voters consider things such as focus and exposure when assessing photos. Yikes! What chance do I have if one is told to consider such things!

— Frank Theriault

I knew there was something more involved here but I couldn't verbalize it with the limited mental resources I allotted for the task.

— Cory Waters

I've been channeling Dave Brooks before I even knew who he was.

— Dave Savage

I managed to resist that. Glad to see you are weaker than I.

— Mike Wilson

Just enough information to be totally useless.

— John Sessoms

After all, the worst thing we can do is laugh at your equipment. After we've pulled your trousers down.

— Mike Wilson

I long ago came to terms with & embraced my stupidity.

— Dave Savage

If you are into self abuse, then 35mm Mamiya cameras might be for you. I'll take a nice spanking from a middle aged lady first.

— Bill Robb

I have been offered work as an escort driver (oversize loads, not girls).

— Dave Brooks

I was trying to organize my recent photos and I realized I hadn't submitted a cow photo in a while.

— Steve Desjardins

I thought that was in poor taste, even for me.

— Mike Wilson

Sorry, I'm having one of my moods this morning.

— Bill Robb

Since I'm a day-to-day contract worker, love is a good thing.

— Paul Stenquist

Coming back to conceptual photography, to me the problem is that for being photography, there are way too many words involved...

— Fernando

There are enough people who literally boast about how they dislike pictures or films or music or books or whatever that are acclaimed by the critics, often for no other reason, it seems, than the very fact that the critics like them.

— Toralf Lund

Minimum wage would be nice.

— Dave Brooks

Accuracy is for the unimaginative.

— Paul Stenquist

Seriously Tom, that's not getting joy out of photography. That's getting joy out of being a dick.

— Doug Brewer

Never underestimate the power of nostalgia.

— Toralf Lund

When resources are scarce, you have to focus on your goals.

— George Sinos

Great personality, very affectionate. The cat, not the ex-wife!

— Christian Skofteland

That's so sweet it makes me want to puke.

— Dave Savage

You're eccentric until you die or you run out of money... Then you're insane.

— P. J. Alling

I'm not qualified to judge other peoples photos, but I gave it a go anyway.

— Dave Savage

I work cheap, but I still want money.

— Dave Brooks

No art here:-)

— Paul Stenquist

Well if you're out cruising the ditches, the women in my village will feel safe tonight.

— Dave Brooks

I'm not paranoid, I just like To Know.

— Cotty

If England hadn't spawned a lot of bolshy free-thinking Anglo-Saxon peasants where would we all be?

— Bob Walkden

They're talking out of their bottoms. But if they're paying, they're allowed to ;-)

— Cotty

Hey, you said be brutal, not necessarily constructive.

— P.J. Alling

Only Cotty wastes bandwidth.

— Dave Brooks

Hard to find a grey grad shaped to fit mountain peaks, I've noticed.

— Rick Womer

Naturally, you want to do what I do.

— Doug Brewer

Let's just say the weekend was rather moist, and not in a fun, steamy, girlfriend, back-seat kinda way either.

— Cory Waters

You give great puffin!

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

I rarely have any intention when I shoot.

— Frank Theriault

Oh good, so you guys can take turns tolerating me :)

— Annsan

I don't really remember the city or much of the trip, except I remember there was a liquor sale on that weekend.

— Dave Brooks

I think of DPReview as porn. I go there to look at the pictures, then words just get in the way.

— Cotty

A good test removes as many variables as possible between the articles being compared.

— Bill Robb

Sometimes I wish there were two of me then I could stand on my own shoulders.

— Cotty

Sometimes a statement of facts can be humorous.

— Norm Baugher

If you want I can post naked pictures of myself — a different pose every week.

— Bob Walkden

I believe this problem is not confined to Italy...

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

I think he is a national treasure who should be preserved for all time. Shall I order a tank and some formaldehyde?

— Peter Jordan

You need to use all caps for this sort of thing to be effective, though.

— Bill Robb

I'm not an artist - I have no imagination. Purely a snapshooter and recorder of passing time. That way, every one is a gem. Or they are all crap. Pick one.

— Mike Wilson

I went into a washroom and got confused — thought it was a Dada gallery or something. I spent 1/2 an hour watching the performace artists, until I realized they were just pissing.

— Frank Theriault

Everything I shoot is wonderful, so I don't have this problem.

— Bill Robb

Reading mail and making prints at the same time can prove costly. I just printed a Bill Robb message on Velvet Fine Art paper.

— Paul Stenquist

Rattle some bones, burn some incense, prostrate yourself before the lesser god of the black box.

— P. J. Alling

I can't tell the difference between food and art, apparently. Which explains a lot....

— Mike Wilson

Hard to be brutal when the photo is that good.

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

You've failed the entropy test.

— Bill Robb

Dyslexia comes in handy sometimes.

— Marnie AKA Doe

Film? Hey, man, this is 2007. Get with the programme!

— Frank Theriault

You know, there is nothing worse than a convert...

— P.J. Alling

I'm just scannally-challenged.

— Norm Baugher

I could write another 'Yellow Journalism/Victorian Morality/1950's Horror Movie-style' description of Cotty's experiments, but I'll leave that that to your imagination.

— P.J. Alling

This is a great list, it's helped me a lot, except for spelling.

— Dave Brooks

Sometimes you just have to be satisfied with the knowledge that you have brought a small amount of happiness into your viewer's lives.

— Bill Robb

When it comes down to going on a trip, I always take a couple of my best lenses rather than the convenient option.

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

I even like the cat photos.

— Marnie AKA Doe

I am no Godfrey.

— Perry Pellechia

I'm waiting for them to shuffle my gods.

— Tim Øsleby

At some point, you have to decide if you want to take pictures and learn to compromise a bit, or take up ice fishing.

— Bill Robb

I am NOT upgrading to smaller fingers.

— Marnie AKA Doe

Some topics are too stupid to discuss.

— Bill Robb

The PDML is swimming in self-fulfilling prophesies.

— Scott Loveless

I swear, I'm reading too much Bill Robb these days.

— Cotty

One nice things about fog is that I can use the mediocre FA 28-200 with seeming impunity.

— Tom Cakalic

You could treat yourself with a new FA* 600/4. Already have one? Ok, buy another for backup.

— Tim Øsleby

Ain't no angels on this list brother.

— Cotty

For some strange reason, the bastard child of two Pentax cameras doesn't bother me nearly as much as what Cotty does.

— Scott Loveless

Wedding photography is as stressful as you care to make it.

— Bill Robb

You may as well charge like a Rolls Royce, the pictures won't be around long enough to prove they are a Chevette.

— Bill Robb

If somebody offered me the choice between photographing another wedding, and rolling around naked in an open plague pit whilst licking a leprous dog's bottom, I would choose the plague pit every time.

— Bob Walkden

Just because you didn't change anything doesn't mean nothing changed.

— Doug Franklin

Common sense says I can't do both, but I'm not common.

— Tim Øsleby

You can never have too many lenses.

— Bill Robb

If the answer involves Ken Rockwell, you're asking the wrong question.

— Doug Franklin

There's nothing quite like an active banana!

— Rob Studdert

Is there such a thing as non-excessive ecstasy?

— Kostas Kavoussanakis

Has he called anyone an idiot yet in this thread?

— William Robb

I do like to twiddle mine occasionally, just to remind me of the good old days.

— Rob Studdert

Pedantry does not produce photographs.

— Godfrey DiGiorgi

We don't need Hell. We got Norm.

— Dave Brooks

I've found that lowering one's standards is infinitely cheaper.

— Doug Franklin

It's so great to have all this free entertainment delivered to my inbox on a daily basis.

— RG2

I get raked over the coals on a daily basis by people who don't know any better and by people who definitely know better but like torturing me.

— Scott Loveless

What is this 'Mark!' thing???

— Bob Blakely

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