Mary Ellen Mark Quotes - BrainyQuote

American - Photographer March 20, 1940 - May 25, 2015

Every photograph is the photographer's opinion about something. It's how they feel about something: what they think is horrible, tragic, funny.

Mary Ellen Mark

Funny Feel Think Opinion

I've always been interested in photographing traditions and customs - especially in America. The prom is an American tradition, a rite of passage that has always been one of the most important rituals of American youth. It is a day in our lives that we never forget - a day full of hopes and dreams for our future.

Mary Ellen Mark

Dreams Day Future Tradition

Photograph the world as it is. Nothing's more interesting than reality.

Mary Ellen Mark

World Reality Nothing Photograph

Looking at my own prom photograph reminds me of how significant that moment was - and how fleeting life is.

Mary Ellen Mark

Life Me Moment Looking

I work in colour sometimes, but I guess the images I most connect to, historically speaking, are in black and white. I see more in black and white - I like the abstraction of it.

Mary Ellen Mark

Work Black And White Black Sometimes

What you look for in a picture is a metaphor, something that means something more, that makes you think about things you've seen or thought about.

Mary Ellen Mark

You Look Picture Think

I love to photograph people in their own environment. It offers clues to what's important in their lives.

Mary Ellen Mark

Love People Important Environment

I'm a documentary photographer. That's what I've always wanted to be; that's where my heart and soul is.

Mary Ellen Mark

Heart Soul Always Photographer

I'm most interested in finding the strangeness and irony in reality. That's my forte.

Mary Ellen Mark

Reality Finding Irony Most

I'm not much for cats. I'm terrified of mice. I've worked a lot with elephants, and they are extremely intelligent and sensitive, and thankfully, they seem to like me. You never want to get on the bad side of an elephant. And never trust a chimp.

Mary Ellen Mark

Me You Trust Cats

Top 10
Mary Ellen Mark
Quotes

Reality is always extraordinary.

Mary Ellen Mark

Reality Always Extraordinary

I really knew when I started photographing I wanted it to be a way of knowing different cultures, not just in other countries but in this country, too, and I knew I wanted to be a voyeur.

Mary Ellen Mark

Way Country Knowing Different

If I hadn't become a photographer, I would have loved to become a doctor. I would have loved to have done something that actually helped people and changed their lives.

Mary Ellen Mark

People Doctor Loved Done

I've always been fascinated by twins. In my forty years of photographing, whenever there was an opportunity, I would take a picture of twins. I found the notion that two people could appear to look exactly alike very compelling.

Mary Ellen Mark

People Opportunity Look Picture

I'm just interested in people on the edges. I feel an affinity for people who haven't had the best breaks in society. I'm always on their side. I find them more human, maybe. What I want to do more than anything is acknowledge their existence.

Mary Ellen Mark

Best Society People Feel

I think photography is closest to writing, not painting. It's closest to writing because you are using this machine to convey an idea. The image shouldn't need a caption; it should already convey an idea.

Mary Ellen Mark

You Painting Think Writing

I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.

Mary Ellen Mark

You Soul People Think

The obsessions we have are pretty much the same our whole lives. Mine are people, the human condition, life.

Mary Ellen Mark

Life People Human Mine

I was fascinated by my own prom pictures.

Mary Ellen Mark

Pictures My Own Own Prom

I think the prom is very serious also. It's an American ritual, it's a rite of passage, and it's very much a part of this country.

Mary Ellen Mark

Think Serious Country American

I wanted to travel from the beginning. As a kid, I used to dream about airplanes, before I ever flew in one.

Mary Ellen Mark

Travel Beginning Dream Kid

Sometimes I work on film sets. I've done this for 40 years. I always wanted to photograph on the set of an Ingmar Bergman film. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity.

Mary Ellen Mark

Work Opportunity Sometimes Never

One of my all-time favorite photographers is Irving Penn. I wish I could have watched him work.

Mary Ellen Mark

Work Wish I Wish Favorite

Usually my ideas for work have revolved around my interest in people, especially people that live on the edges of society.

Mary Ellen Mark

Work Society People Ideas

I'm just interested in what makes a photograph.

Mary Ellen Mark

Photograph Just Interested Makes

I respect newspapers, but the reality is that magazine 'photojournalism' is finished. They want illustrations, Photoshopped pictures of movie stars.

Mary Ellen Mark

Stars Respect Pictures Reality

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