Sally Mann

"I'd park myself in the bookstore and read with one eye on everyone coming in. I remember reading a Robert Bly book of poetry."

"Death makes us sad, but it can also make us feel more alive."

"I have a vivid, apocalyptic imagination."

"At the age of 16, my father's father dropped dead of a heart attack. And I think it changed the course of his life, and he became fascinated with death. He then became a medical doctor and obviously fought death tooth and nail for his patients."

"Every time it’s the same. It’s easy to prove to myself that good pictures are elusive, but I can never quite believe they’re also inevitable. It would be a lot easier for me to believe they were if I also believed that they came as a result of my obvious talent, that I was extraordinary in some way. Artists go out of their way to reinforce the perception that good art is made by singular people, people with an exceptional gift. But I don’t believe I am that exceptional, so what is this that I’m making?"

"Art is seldom the result of true genius; rather, it is the product of hard work and skills learned and tenaciously practiced by regular people."

"The hardest part is setting the camera on the tripod, or making the decision to bring the camera out of the car, or just raising the camera to your face, believing, by those actions, that whatever you find before you, whatever you find there, is going to be good."