Mary Ellen Mark Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“Sometimes I work on film sets. I've done this for 40 years. I always wanted to photograph on the set of an Ingmar Bergman film. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity.”

“When you're working on a film, it's almost like photographing paintings at a museum. You're photographing somebody else's world. I just try and interpret it and make it real, and make it what the actors are about, what the director is about, and what the film is about.”

“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.”

“I'm a documentary photographer. That's what I've always wanted to be; that's where my heart and soul is.”

“I'm just interested in what makes a photograph.”

“Usually my ideas for work have revolved around my interest in people, especially people that live on the edges of society.”

“There are some people who become best friends with everyone they photograph. There are people that I really like and admire and respect, but in a way I think it's better to keep a distance. I think you get better pictures of people that you don't know very well.”

“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.”

“If I hadn't become a photographer, I would have loved to become a doctor. I would have loved to have done something that actually helped people and changed their lives.”

“When I started out, it was considered very wrong to change an image. There were scandals if someone inserted a sky into a war picture or something. Now it's all about that.”