Mary Ellen Mark

In a portrait, you always leave part of yourself behind.

— Mary Ellen Mark

That's the way I learned photography: You make your picture in the camera. Now, so much is made in the computer. ...…

— Mary Ellen Mark

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

— Mary Ellen Mark

I wanted to travel from the beginning. As a kid, I used to dream about airplanes, before I ever flew in one.

— Mary Ellen Mark

A great photograph needs no explanation; it functions by suggestion. There is no need to be explicit.

— Mary Ellen Mark

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

— Mary Ellen Mark

One of my all-time favorite photographers is Irving Penn. I wish I could have watched him work.

— Mary Ellen Mark

Nowadays shots are created in post-production, on computers. It's not really photography.

— Mary Ellen Mark

To touch on people's lives [ in a way they ] haven't been touched on before, it´s fascianting. You know, it's one…

— Mary Ellen Mark

What you look for in a picture is a metaphor, something that means something more, that makes you think about things you've…

— Mary Ellen Mark

It's just a matter of who you are and how you talk to people. Your subjects will trust you only if you're…

— Mary Ellen Mark

If I hadn't become a photographer, I would have loved to become a doctor. I would have loved to have done something…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I'm not much for cats. I'm terrified of mice. I've worked a lot with elephants, and they are extremely intelligent and sensitive,…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I'm not against digital photography. It's great for newspapers. And there are photographers doing great work digitally. When they use Photoshop as…

— Mary Ellen Mark

Im just interested in what makes a photograph.

— Mary Ellen Mark

I’m trying to please myself; certainly that’s a big criterion... though in a sense, I don’t take images just for myself. I…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I saw that my camera gave me a sense of connection with others that I never had before. It allowed me to…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I don't think you can develop or learn a way of seeing or a point of view. A way of seeing is…

— Mary Ellen Mark

As a kid, I used to dream about airplanes before I ever flew in one. I really knew, when I started photographing,…

— Mary Ellen Mark

Everyone asks me how I get my subjects to open up to me. There’s no formula to it. It’s just a matter…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I remember the first time I went out on the street to shoot pictures. I was in downtown Philadelphia, and I just…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I'm most interested in finding the strangeness and irony in reality. That's my forte.

— Mary Ellen Mark

A lot of people who don't have anything collect dogs; it's kind of a symbol of having something.

— Mary Ellen Mark

If I'm in an unusual or extreme social environment, I always want to know what it's like to grow up there and…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I love dogs. I absolutely adore them. When I'm teaching in Mexico, I rescue dogs from the streets and make my students…

— Mary Ellen Mark