A Few Words of Wisdom from Iconic Photographer Elliott Erwitt

Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt is one of the most iconic shooters still alive today, and he’s got a few profound phrases about the art of photography for you in the debut episode of TIME’s web series “First Take.”

A renowned documentary photographer, Erwitt is known as a master of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment.” Over his many decades behind the camera, he’s photographed the wonderful and the wonderfully weird, trying like everyone else to capture, “that special moment that transcends” the subject, place, and time it was taken.

“That,” says Erwitt, “is what is called Magic.”