Sam Taylor-Johnson Quotes

So when I looked at pictures and produced my calendar and edited the pictures, it wasn't just about looking at myself and thinking I'm attractive. I try to take myself out of it and get into the whole process of putting it all together.

I look at my pictures, and I think, 'Well, how did I do that?'

I'd never painted anything before. I was quite content to take other people's work since I didn't care anyway about the subject matter. I approached subject matter as a scoundrel. I had nothing to say about it whatsoever. I only wanted to make these exciting paintings.

Acting has influenced my approach to beauty in both practical and fun ways as well as influencing my style. I do like to be more adventurous - for some reason, I feel safer in that.

I listen to music, I read scripts, and I know pretty intuitively if I can unlock it in a way. It's actually very liberating when you understand that not everything is for you.

Art is something that opens up and enhances your emotions and that's what I like to think I'm doing.

The exciting thing about doing art for someone else's story is how I can translate their world through pictures, and that's always a pretty big challenge.

When I begin, theoretically and practically I can smear anything I want on the canvas. Then there's a condition I have to react to, by changing it or destroying it.

I think a lot of making art is listening to yourself.

I am a keen observer of my own films; I also try to discover myself through the movies I make.

I don't think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.

I find still photographs make me quite self-conscious.

Once I make a picture, I never look at it again.

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

I think anything I do will have an island feel, but I don't want it to be just that; I don't want to be put in a box.

Everyone thinks these are self-portraits but they aren't meant to be. I just use myself as a model because I know I can push myself to extremes, make each shot as ugly or goofy or silly as possible.

Photography is a way of putting distance between myself and the work which sometimes helps me to see more clearly what it is that I have made.

But if you're talking about fine art work, then I think you have to ask yourself some pretty deep questions about why it is you want to take pictures and what it is you want to say.

Sometimes I think that there's a fine line between impressionistic and messy.

PowerPoint may not be of any use for you in a presentation, but it may liberate you in another way, an artistic way. Who knows.

I like seeing how I can look in a photo.

I could never figure out why photography and art had separate histories. So I decided to explore both.

In front of the camera I look and I see visually what I've created.

My music asks people to think critically, so how can I get upset when people think about me critically?

My style reflects my mood, the place I'm in, and the place I'm going to.