Mary Ellen Mark

Reality is always extraordinary.

— Mary Ellen Mark

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

— Mary Ellen Mark

Im just interested in what makes a photograph.

— Mary Ellen Mark

I always wanted to photograph the universal subjects.

— Mary Ellen Mark

You don't need to retouch if you know how to light.

— Mary Ellen Mark

Finding the right subject is the hardest part.

— Mary Ellen Mark

I'm just interested in what makes a photograph.

— Mary Ellen Mark

I was fascinated by my own prom pictures.

— 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

The subject gives you the best idea of how to make a photograph. So I just wait for something to happen.

— Mary Ellen Mark

Photograph the world as it is. Nothing's more interesting than reality.

— Mary Ellen Mark

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

— Mary Ellen Mark

The obsessions we have are pretty much the same our whole lives. Mine are people, the human condition, life.

— Mary Ellen Mark

I have an incredible relationship with dogs. I'm kind of a dog-whisperer.

— Mary Ellen Mark

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

— 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

I'm staying with film, and with silver prints, and no Photoshop. That's the way I learned photography: You make your picture in…

— 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’m just interested in people on the edges. I feel an affinity for people who haven’t had the best breaks in society.…

— Mary Ellen Mark

Every photograph is the photographer's opinion about something. It's how they feel about something: what they think is horrible, tragic, funny.

— Mary Ellen Mark

If you are interested in photography because you love it and are obsessed with it, you must be self-motivated, a perfectionist, and…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I realized all of the possibilities that could exist for me with my camera: all of the images that I could capture,…

— 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 love to fly. It's just you're alone, there's peace and quiet, nothing around you but clear blue sky. No one to…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I think you have to have a real point of view that's your own. You have to tell it your way. And,…

— 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

I always think, 'What does this picture mean? What's the best place to put my camera? Do I have anything extra in…

— Mary Ellen Mark

There are some people who become best friends with everyone they photograph. There are people that I really like and admire and…

— Mary Ellen Mark

I've always been interested in photographing traditions and customs - especially in America. The prom is an American tradition, a rite of…

— 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

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…

— 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

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

— Mary Ellen Mark

I love to photograph people in their own environment. It offers clues to what's important in their lives.

— 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

Looking at my own prom photograph reminds me of how significant that moment was - and how fleeting life is.

— Mary Ellen Mark

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

— Mary Ellen Mark

It’s not when you press the shutter, but why you press the shutter.

— 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

When I started out, it was considered very wrong to change an image. There were scandals if someone inserted a sky into…

— Mary Ellen Mark