Quotes by Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark

A good print is really essential. I want to take strong documentary photographs that are as good technically as any of the best technical photographs, and as creative as any of the best fine-art photographs. […] I don’t want to just be a photo essayist; I’m more interested in single images…ones that I feel are good enough to stand on their own.

Art

Photography

Strong

A great photograph needs no explanation; it functions by suggestion. There is no need to be explicit.

Needs

Photograph

Suggestions

Everyone asks me how I get my subjects to open up to me. There’s no formula to it. It’s just a matter of who you are and how you talk to people – of being yourself.

Being Yourself

Matter

People

Finding the right subject is the hardest part.

Findings

Hardest

Subjects

I always wanted to photograph the universal subjects.

Photograph

Subjects

Wanted

I don’t think you can develop or learn a way of seeing or a point of view. A way of seeing is who you are, how you think and how you create images. It is something that is inside of you. It’s how you look at the world.

Thinking

Views

World

I go into every story thinking I’m going to fail. I think about that all the time – I think it’s going to be terrible. Every story is like the first I’ve ever done.

Done

Firsts

Thinking

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.

People

Photography

Thinking

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

Illustration

Reality

Stars

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.

Country

Serious

Thinking

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

Airplane

All Time

Art

Behinds

Being Yourself

Believe

Black And White

Break

Cameras

Character

Color

Colour

Computer

Country

Different

Distance

Doctors

Documentaries

Done

Dream

Essence

Extraordinary

Fascinated

Findings

Firsts

Giving

Hardest

Heart

Human Condition

Ideas

Illustration

Interest

Interesting

Kids

Matter

Mind

Mistake

Museums

My Own

Needs

Obsession

Opportunity

Order

People

Perfectionist

Photograph

Photographer

Photography

Portraits

Presses

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

Tool

The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark

A great photograph needs no explanation; it functions by suggestion. There is no need to be explicit.

Everyone asks me how I get my subjects to open up to me. There’s no formula to it. It’s just a matter of who you are and how you talk to people – of being yourself.

Finding the right subject is the hardest part.

I always wanted to photograph the universal subjects.

I don’t think you can develop or learn a way of seeing or a point of view. A way of seeing is who you are, how you think and how you create images. It is something that is inside of you. It’s how you look at the world.

I go into every story thinking I’m going to fail. I think about that all the time – I think it’s going to be terrible. Every story is like the first I’ve ever done.

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.

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

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.

Get Social with TBU

Topics by Mary Ellen Mark

Popular Tools

The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

Menu

Menu