Joe McNally Quotes

Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.

I certainly never wanted to be a photographer to bore myself. It's no fun - life is too short.

I was always painting when I was a kid. But then when I handled a camera when I was 17, that was it for me. I loved photography. I would work 4 or 5 hours a day. It was like a calling.

I remember the first time I went out on the street to shoot pictures. I was in downtown Philadelphia, and I just took a walk and started making contact with people and photographing them, and I thought, 'I love this. This is what I want to do forever.' There was never another question.

As a filmmaker, I make the films that I love, that are in my heart. That's what I care about.

As a matter of fact, nearly all the greatest work is being, and has always been done, by those who are following photography for the love of it, and not merely for financial reasons. As the name implies, an amateur is one who works for love.

Work harder, get closer and be passionate about what you photograph.

Unless you photograph what you love, you're not going to make good art.

There is an incredible love in creating art unless somebody is saying, 'Hey, let's just make money,' because it doesn't work when you do it that way. If you are aiming for that, forget it.

A film can be big or small - I have to just fall in love with it. To connect with the character, the script, and the director. Sometimes they say to you, 'You should do that for your career; it's a big thing, people will go and see it,' but I wouldn't be able to, because my heart wouldn't be in it. I would drive people quite mad.

I can honestly say, there was a moment when I was writing 'Upstream Color' where I fell so hard for what it was becoming that I couldn't think of anything else. I was absolutely secure in this story in the way I'm rarely secure about anything else in my life.

I've always been more of a camera hog than anything, and it's just another way to get it all out!

I started acting without any vocation. I continued out of love.

As soon as I had the camera in my hand for the first time, I just fell in love.

I'm an artist at heart.

I have a desire to create more film, more beauty, more art, more love, but I don't feel desperate. It's not about creating or building a career.

If I go home from a day of shooting, and I haven't at some point felt the magic, I'm really frustrated.

The film of tomorrow will be an act of love.

I'd very much like to create my own style as a photographer, even if it's just for myself.

I can't really envision a time when I'm not shooting something.

I came to the industry with wide eyes and an open heart thinking I was going to make a few films that really meant something that I could pour myself into.

I love the idea I can go off with a single camera and a few rolls of film unencumbered... I was not interested in the illusion of reality, I wanted to get close to what was happening.

Anybody can be a great photographer if they zoom in enough on what they love.

What it all boils down to for me is having the enthusiasm to do something for enjoyment and being stimulated by what's around you. That's what photography does for me.

I wanted to go to acting school, and I did a few modeling jobs to pay for acting school. I never aspired to be a model. I met lots of photographers, and I learned a lot about light - as a source of love and illumination, light as a gift of love. On film, that's a massive contribution.