--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If it doesn’t have ambiguity, don’t…" description: "\"If it doesn’t have ambiguity, don’t bother to take it. I love that, that aspect of photography—the mendacity of photography—it’s got to have some kind ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/175/sally-mann-15174_ambiguity_if-it-doesn-t-have-ambiguity-don-t-bothe_317669.png" --- # If it doesn’t have ambiguity, don’t bother to take it. I… ![“If it doesn’t have ambiguity, don’t bother to take it. I love that, that aspect of photography—the mendacity of photography—it’s got to have some kind of peculiarity in it or it’s not interesting to me.” quote by Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/175/sally-mann-15174_ambiguity_if-it-doesn-t-have-ambiguity-don-t-bothe_317669.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/175/sally-mann-15174_ambiguity_if-it-doesn-t-have-ambiguity-don-t-bothe_317669.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/175/sally-mann-15174_ambiguity_if-it-doesn-t-have-ambiguity-don-t-bothe_317669.png) > “If it doesn’t have ambiguity, don’t bother to take it. I love that, that aspect of photography—the mendacity of photography—it’s got to have some kind of peculiarity in it or it’s not interesting to me.” [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photography must contain ambiguity or peculiarity to be compelling; certainty makes it dull. **In simple terms:** Good photos need mystery. Key Takeaway Seek the unexpected in images. Themes creativity art perception Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type artistic reflective When to use this quote - portrait sessions - documentary work - experimental shoots - gallery curation Key Concepts aesthetics visual ambiguity truth vs. illusion Questions to Reflect On - How does uncertainty enhance visual storytelling? - When does ambiguity become a flaw? A Different Perspective Ambiguity can be misinterpreted as deception, reducing trust. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambiguity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) [Mendacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mendacity/) [Peculiarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peculiarity/) [Photographer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographer/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) ## Related quotes > [Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don't trust ambiguity. John Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wayne/screw-ambiguity-perversion-and-corruption-masquerade-as-ambiguity-i/) [John Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wayne/) > [“When people complain of your complexity, they fail to remember that they made fun of your simplicity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/when-people-complain-of-your-complexity-they-fail-to-remember-that/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“When you are convinced that what you offer is yours, whether it be mediocre or of standard quality, your originality will make people love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/when-you-are-convinced-that-what-you-offer-is-yours-whether-it-be/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future—sub specie aeternitatis. And this is his salvation in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-e-frankl/it-is-a-peculiarity-of-man-that-he-can-only-live-by-looking-to-the-2/) [Viktor E. Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-e-frankl/) > [Although I studied, I have never been taught paintingbecause I possess in my psychological makeup a peculiarity that resents any outside interference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amrita-sher-gil/although-i-studied-i-have-never-been-taught-paintingbecause-i-possess/) Amrita Sher-Gil > [“It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future - sub specie aeternitatis. And this is his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-e-frankl/it-is-a-peculiarity-of-man-that-he-can-only-live-by-looking-to-the/) [Viktor E. Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-e-frankl/) > [“and that this was the source of their magical peculiarity. This was what made them not the same kind of human as everyone else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-k-jemisin/and-that-this-was-the-source-of-their-magical-peculiarity-this-was/) [N.K. Jemisin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-k-jemisin/) > [“My peculiarity is that I don't have a particular style of investing or, more exactly, I try to change my style to fit the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/my-peculiarity-is-that-i-don-t-have-a-particular-style-of-investing/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [“Every idea is in the soul of its owner. No other power can shift it to another soul, that is why we have the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/every-idea-is-in-the-soul-of-its-owner-no-other-power-can-shift-it-to/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [Owing to some peculiarity in my nervous system, I have perception of some things, which no one else has; or at least very few,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/owing-to-some-peculiarity-in-my-nervous-system-i-have-perception-of/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [“The greatest book is one written by your pen, but not exactly from your mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/the-greatest-book-is-one-written-by-your-pen-but-not-exactly-from/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [Religion is the peculiarity of the growth of the Indian mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/religion-is-the-peculiarity-of-the-growth-of-the-indian-mind/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [I just kind of conjured them up out of my subconscious and put them in order of ascending peculiarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gorey/i-just-kind-of-conjured-them-up-out-of-my-subconscious-and-put-them/) [Edward Gorey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gorey/) > [A famous name has this peculiarity that it becomes gradually smaller especially in natural sciences where each succeeding discovery invariably overshadows what precedes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacobus-henricus-van-t-hoff/a-famous-name-has-this-peculiarity-that-it-becomes-gradually-smaller/) Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff > [No matter how valuable you are and your ideas, fools will certainly play both of you down, so exclude yourselves from the inflammatory environs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/no-matter-how-valuable-you-are-and-your-ideas-fools-will-certainly/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) ## More by Sally Mann > [My main interest was finding boyfriends. I'd park myself in the bookstore and read with one eye on everyone coming in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/my-main-interest-was-finding-boyfriends-i-d-park-myself-in-the/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [Unless you photograph what you love, you're not going to make good art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/unless-you-photograph-what-you-love-you-re-not-going-to-make-good-art/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [“I struggle with enormous discrepancies: between the reality of motherhood and the image of it, between my love for my home and the need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/i-struggle-with-enormous-discrepancies-between-the-reality-of/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [“If you want to keep a memory pristine, you must not call upon it too often, for each time it is revisited, you alter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/if-you-want-to-keep-a-memory-pristine-you-must-not-call-upon-it-too/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [Sometimes, when I get a good picture, it feels like I have taken another nervous step into increasingly rarified air. Each good-news picture, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/sometimes-when-i-get-a-good-picture-it-feels-like-i-have-taken/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [One of the things my career as an artist might say to young artists is: The things that are close to you are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/one-of-the-things-my-career-as-an-artist-might-say-to-young-artists/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [There is a great quote from a female writer. She said, 'If you don't break out in a sweat of fear when you write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/there-is-a-great-quote-from-a-female-writer-she-said-if-you-don-t/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [When the good pictures come, we hope they tell truths, but truths 'told slant,' just as Emily Dickinson commanded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/when-the-good-pictures-come-we-hope-they-tell-truths-but-truths-told/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [All the good pictures that came so easily now make the next set of pictures virtually impossible in your mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/all-the-good-pictures-that-came-so-easily-now-make-the-next-set-of/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [ I’m so worried that I’m going to perfect \[my\] technique someday. I have to say its unfortunate how many of my pictures do depend… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/i-m-so-worried-that-i-m-going-to-perfect-my-technique-someday-i-have/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [The things that are close to you are the things you can photograph the best,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/the-things-that-are-close-to-you-are-the-things-you-can-photograph/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [Like all photographers, I depend on serendipity, and when you're photographing children there's often an abundance of it. I would have an idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/like-all-photographers-i-depend-on-serendipity-and-when-you-re/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [I’m past photographing to see what things look like photographed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/i-m-past-photographing-to-see-what-things-look-like-photographed/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [What is truth in photography? It can be told in a hundred different ways. Every thirtieth of a second when the shutter snaps, its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/what-is-truth-in-photography-it-can-be-told-in-a-hundred-different/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [I like to make people a little uncomfortable. It encourages them to examine who they are and why they think the way they do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/i-like-to-make-people-a-little-uncomfortable-it-encourages-them-to/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) [Explore all 44 Sally Mann quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) ## More Ambiguity quotes > [The position is clear - there is no ambiguity in Sinn Fein's position. We, along with all the other parties, have signed up to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-mcguinness/the-position-is-clear-there-is-no-ambiguity-in-sinn-fein-s-position/) [Martin McGuinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-mcguinness/) > [Ambiguity is necessary in some of my stories, not in all. In those, it certainly contributes to the richness of the story. I doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wolfe/ambiguity-is-necessary-in-some-of-my-stories-not-in-all-in-those-it/) [Gene Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wolfe/) > [During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/during-the-cold-war-we-lived-in-coded-times-when-it-wasn-t-easy-and/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/you-cannot-grow-in-the-integrative-dance-of-action-and-contemplation/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [I blame my grandfather 100 percent for his oldest son's death. I don't think there's any ambiguity there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-l-trump/i-blame-my-grandfather-100-percent-for-his-oldest-son-s-death-i-don-t/) [Mary L. Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-l-trump/) > [I think the relationship between social-dominance orientation in people and the extent to which they're made uncomfortable by ambiguity and novelty is really important.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sapolsky/i-think-the-relationship-between-social-dominance-orientation-in/) [Robert Sapolsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sapolsky/) > [Yet again, an ancient answer echoes across the centuries: Listen! Listen to stories! For what stories do, above all else, is hold up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-kurtz/yet-again-an-ancient-answer-echoes-across-the-centuries-listen-listen/) [Ernest Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-kurtz/) > [My path to wisdom began when I stopped pretending to know things I didn't know. When I explicitly admitted to the limits of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tucker-max/my-path-to-wisdom-began-when-i-stopped-pretending-to-know-things-i/) [Tucker Max](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tucker-max/) > [If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/if-there-is-a-single-tragic-flaw-that-mars-our-biggest-enterprises-it/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-order-to-be-as-free-as-i-possibly-can-in-my-own-imagination-i-can/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [I've always been drawn to ambiguity in pop music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-furman/i-ve-always-been-drawn-to-ambiguity-in-pop-music/) [Ezra Furman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-furman/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I am in the utmost perplexity, yand have wished a hundred times, that if there is a A God, nature would manifest him without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/i-am-in-the-utmost-perplexity-yand-have-wished-a-hundred-times-that/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [There's a lot of ambiguity in life, and so often, our art is very neatly wrapped up at the end, when our lives never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-coon/there-s-a-lot-of-ambiguity-in-life-and-so-often-our-art-is-very/) [Carrie Coon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-coon/) > [“Man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/man-must-not-attempt-to-dispel-the-ambiguity-of-his-being-but-on-the/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Browse all 431 Ambiguity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If it doesn’t have ambiguity, don’t bother to take it. 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