Sally Mann Quotes

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

I always think, 'What does this picture mean? What's the best place to put my camera? Do I have anything extra in the picture, things in the background that will distract? Am I in the basic position that will give the essential things for this picture but not too much?'

If you're really in the process of photographing, you are absolutely aware. You are looking.

If your pictures are not good enough, it’s because you are not close enough.

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

I have a low-tech camera with one lens that I've shot everything in my life on. My subjects and my subject matter sometimes really are powerful, and so my job is to get it into focus.

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

I'm not an artist. I set the camera up and tell my story.

I'm just interested in what makes a photograph.

Photography is the simplest thing in the world, but it is incredibly complicated to make it really work.

A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

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

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.

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.

I'm no snapshot artist. I make very careful choices always, even if I'm using a 35mm camera.

In my photography, color and composition are inseparable. I see in color.

Anytime you look at someone in detail, you're putting the camera on that person. What I typically look for is one or two or three really strong characters who will hold the narrative throughout the work.

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.

...to photograph is to frame, and to frame is to exclude.

The things that are close to you are the things you can photograph the best.

It's just about going out and getting the shot, so I have a great understanding of how to execute it, so that really helps me, and also having a good understanding of all the action that I'm shooting, it helps me in determining how I'm going to capture it.

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

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.

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

The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share.