Mary Ellen Mark Quotes

I'm just interested in what makes a photograph.

The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer.

In everything I do, the aesthetics are driven by the emotion. However I can do that with a camera, whether it's a long lens or a wide lens, I'll do.

You start blocking out things, and that's a really important part of taking a picture is the ability to isolate what you're - what you're concentrating on.

This thing called the camera, that takes everything in equally, taught me a lot about how to see.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

The really simple approach to photography is a great balance to making the films.

When taking a photo, I tend to look for one of the following: depth, symmetry, color or contrast. All of those things catch my eye to the point where I stop dead in my tracks to capture whatever it is that I've seen.

When you shoot in a room, that's a symmetrical thing that contains you. When there's no contention, the sensation is overwhelming you. That's a challenge, to do that.

I love a well composed shot. It doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful, but it must be well composed.

I pay a lot of attention to composition in my art, and I will often shift myself or change a pose according to the golden triangle rule of photography composition.

I seldom think when I take a picture. My eyes and fingers react - click. But first, it's most important to decide on the angle at which your photograph is to be taken.

The job is trying to create movie shots that have depth, that have the meanings you need them to have, and then good enough so that they will add something to the final picture. They will make the picture; they'll get into the picture, and give them what they need. It's an interesting job.

There are a thousand ways to point a camera, but really only one.

Photography can be a volatile situation. It can be very potent.

A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.

Whenever I arrive on a real location, I have to move around and work out what the best angles are going to be. When I was moving around with the lens, I discovered things that the naked eye would not have.

What I end up shooting is the situation. I shoot the composition and my subject is going to help the composition or not.

Look at lots of exhibitions and books, and don't get hung up on cameras and technical things. Photography is about images.

Every shot is unique, even if it's just a close-up, an insert of your hand. You've got to work with the guy behind the lens to get it right, focus in. Those are critical little nothing things, but you've got to work with the people who are trying to put it down, in order to get it.

I was never one for multi-cameras; my approach was always... I always considered there was only one place to be to do a shot.

Don't bother looking at the view - I have already composed it.

The landscape is like being there with a powerful personality and I'm searching for just the right angles to make that portrait come across as meaningfully as possible.

You ought to have a perspective when you're making a film.

A camera teaches you how to see without a camera.