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Larry Clark Quotes

Film director

Larry Clark is an influential American film director, born on January 19, 1943. His works are known for their profound insights into youth culture and critical portrayals of social reality.

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All Wanted Ifs Photograph Years Cameras Film Knows Looks My Friends People

Famous Larry Clark Quotes

“I am a storyteller. I've never been interested in just taking the single image and moving on. I always like to stay with the people I'm photographing for long periods of time.”

People Long Moving Periods Storyteller Long Periods Of Time

Author:Larry Clark

“I've always been interested in people that you wouldn't see otherwise. If you look back at my books, photographs, and films-and since I'm doing this retrospective I've been forced to look back-the work is always about a small group of people who are somewhat isolated, and who you would never see if I didn't film or photograph them.”

People Ifs Looks Book Film Groups Photograph Isolated Small Groups Retrospective

Author:Larry Clark

“I think the reason why I never wanted to do a retrospective is because I was scared to go back and look at all this stuff through the years.”

Thinking Years Looks Reason Wanted Stuff Scared Reason Why Through The Years Retrospective

Author:Larry Clark

“I tell people to frame the picture. Make the greatest, most perfect composition you can . . . and then take a step forward. It skews it a bit and makes it more interesting.”

People Bits Perfect Interesting Steps Composition Steps Forward

Author:Larry Clark

“My greatest lesson in composition was looking at paintings.”

Painting Lessons Composition

Author:Larry Clark

“For me there are no rules. I think I learned that from artists-from painters and sculptors. It took photography a while to catch up to them.”

Thinking Artist Photography Painter Sculptors

Author:Larry Clark

“I just happened to have my camera and be photographing my friends. It was totally innocent; there was no purpose to the photographs. There was a purity to them that wasn't planned; it was realism. Over the years, the work has changed for me. I know that I have wanted to repeat myself, but I can't. I've been lost a lot of times, but then I'd just get an idea and photograph it. Once I'd started, I'd know exactly what would go down and how it would end. So I just quit doing it, because it loses all interest for me when you know what's going to happen.”

Knows Years I Can Ideas Ends Happens Wanted Purpose Lost Interest Loses Happened Changed My Friends Down And Cameras Photograph Quitting Innocent Repeats Purity Realism

Author:Larry Clark

“[Eugene Smith] was always writing these diatribes about truth, and how he wanted to tell the truth, the truth, the truth. It was a real rebel position. It was kind of like a teenager's position: why can't things be like they should be? Why can't I do what I want? I latched on to that philosophy. One day I snapped, hey, you know, I know a story that no one's ever told, never seen, and I've lived it. It's my own story and my friends' story.”

Knows Want Should Writing Kind Real Philosophy Stories Wanted My Own Position One Day My Friends Hey Teenager Telling The Truth Rebel Hey You

Author:Larry Clark

“The work all comes from a psychological need. See the images that I make... It's really a psychological need. I'm just jerked around by it. I'm pulled by it.”

Needs Psychological Psychological Needs

Author:Larry Clark

“At the end of the day, what I show is real life. I tell the truth. And the truth can be shocking.”

Real Ends Shows Real Life The End Of The Day Telling The Truth Shocking

Author:Larry Clark

“I always felt that when I was photographing, I had a psychic need to see this, to photograph this. And I think if somebody else had been doing this work, and if I could have seen these pictures anywhere at all, then there would have been no need to make them.”

Ifs Thinking Needs Has Beens Felt Photograph If I Could Psychics

Author:Larry Clark

“My favorite color is green.”

Color Green My Favorite Favorite Color

Author:Larry Clark

“I've been a photographer for my whole life and I've done everything with photography that I felt I could do, and I always wanted to be a filmmaker.”

Done Whole Wanted Felt Photography Photographer Whole Life Filmmaker

Author:Larry Clark

“When I was growing up, all the films about teenagers were played by Tony Curtis or John Cassavetes when they were 27, 28 years old. We would see these teenage movies in the theaters and I would say, "They don't look like they're my age at all." So I wanted to make a movie that was real and I wanted to make a movie that wasn't about me.”

Years Looks Real Age Wanted Film Growing Up Growing Theater Teenager Teenage

Author:Larry Clark

“If you're going to photograph skateboarders you can't run after them, you've got to learn how to skate. So at about 50 years old I learned how to skate, and skate fast enough to keep up with them and hold my camera.”

Ifs Years Enough Running Cameras Photograph Skates Skateboarder

Author:Larry Clark

“If you've seen my books through the years, I've always been a storyteller.”

Ifs Years Book Storyteller Through The Years

Author:Larry Clark

“If I want something I do everything to get it.”

Ifs Want Want Something

Author:Larry Clark

“I learned how to skate, I couldn't do the tricks, but I could certainly skate fast enough. I could keep up with anybody and I could bomb hills and I could hide behind my camera.”

Enough Behinds Cameras Tricks Hills Bombs Skates

Author:Larry Clark

“When I started shooting speed, amphetamine, when I was 15, almost 16, it actually calmed me down.”

Speed Shooting Amphetamines

Author:Larry Clark

“I was over self-medicating back when I was a kid and didn't know it.”

Knows Self Kids Back When Self Medicating

Author:Larry Clark

“I've wanted to make a film about French youth since I went to Cannes with my first film 'Kids' in 1995 ... Scribe's screenplay is about French kids today, and the world today. Just like my films 'Kids' and 'Ken Park', this will be a movie like you have never seen before.”

World Firsts Kids Today Wanted Film Youth Like You Parks World Today Screenplays Cannes Scribes

Author:Larry Clark

“I just happened to have my camera and be photographing my friends. It was totally innocent; there was no purpose to the photographs. There was a purity to them that wasn’t planned; it was realism.”

Purpose Happened My Friends Cameras Photograph Innocent Purity Realism

Author:Larry Clark

About the Author

Born: January 19, 1943
Known for: Film director
Quotes: 22

Books & Sources

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