A good print is really essential. I want to take strong documentary photographs that are as good technically as any of the best technical photographs, and as creative as any of the best fine-art photographs. [...] I don't want to just be a photo essayist; I'm more interested in single images...ones that I feel are good enough to stand on their own.
Mary Ellen MarkI go into every story thinking I'm going to fail. I think about that all the time - I think it's going to be terrible. Every story is like the first I've ever done.
Mary Ellen MarkI don't think you can develop or learn a way of seeing or a point of view. A way of seeing is who you are, how you think and how you create images. It is something that is inside of you. It's how you look at the world.
Mary Ellen MarkI think you have to have a real point of view that's your own. You have to tell it your way. And, I think that it's a mistake to shoot for a specific magazine's point of view because it's never going to be as good. You have to shoot for yourself and photograph [ the way] you believe it.
Mary Ellen MarkIโm trying to please myself; certainly thatโs a big criterion... though in a sense, I donโt take images just for myself. I take images that I think other people will want to see. I donโt take pictures to put in a box and hide them. I want as many people to see them as possible.
Mary Ellen Mark