David LaChapelle Quotes & Sayings

I was always painting when I was a kid. But then when I handled a camera when I was 17, that was it for me. I loved photography. I would work 4 or 5 hours a day. It was like a calling. — David LaChapelle

In the fashion world, I was always an outsider, but I made people look good, so I had a career. — David LaChapelle

I moved to New York when I was 15, but my parents lived nearby in Connecticut, so I could go be in this incredible countryside when I needed it. — David LaChapelle

Success to me is being a good person, treating people well. — David LaChapelle

I never wanted to be famous. I always wanted to take famous photographs. — David LaChapelle

I wanted it to provide an escape route, I wanted to make pictures that were fantastic and took you into another world, one that was brighter. I started off with this idea. — David LaChapelle

As you get older, you think about things differently from when you do in your twenties, when you think you'll live forever. — David LaChapelle

The tools I learned photographing celebrities, now I want to use them to sell ideas. — David LaChapelle

You work with people who are obsessive about shopping, obsessive about owning things and buying things, like this purchase is going to make them happy. And you want to say to them, 'You know, no amount of real estate is gonna fill that void.' — David LaChapelle

I've never wanted to be part of an inner circle of any scene. I've always been an outsider looking to question and subvert. — David LaChapelle

I was working in this very bombastic style. I didn't really know about style. I didn't think about it: I did what I was interested in, what I was attracted to, what I was drawn to. I was drawn to color, and I was drawn to humor, and I was drawn to sexuality and spontaneity. It was all really intuitive. I never really thought, Well this is the style ... — David LaChapelle

People get devalued in Hollywood when they age, despite all their efforts to stay relevant and beautiful and young. They can't get jobs anymore. — David LaChapelle

For me, it's easier to like more things than to dislike them; I'm not a critic in that sense. I find it easier to like more, to be more open and enjoy more things, which has given me more opportunities. — David LaChapelle

I'm a photographer, period. I love photography, the immediacy of it. I like the craft, the idea of saying 'I'm a photographer.' — David LaChapelle

The key is to photograph your obsessions, whether that's old people's hands or skyscrapers. Think of a blank canvas, because that's what you've got, and then think about what you want to see. Not anyone else. — David LaChapelle

What's shocking is cruelty and torture, and that's become our entertainment. Kids can play violent video games, but God forbid they look at a naked woman. That's pornography, that's perverse. No! — David LaChapelle

My dream since I was a kid was to show in a gallery. — David LaChapelle

I never want people to be repulsed with my pictures; I always want to attract people. — David LaChapelle

I have no interest in being famous. I just want to make famous photographs. — David LaChapelle

People will get tired of overly retouched images soon and they'll want something different. If people have too much reality, they want fantasy. What matters most is what the image communicates. I remember the first roll of film I shot at high school, the contact sheet went from these really worthy images of cracks in the wall and ended up with all of my dancer friends naked in Renaissance poses. — David LaChapelle

My pictures are about getting as far away from reality as possible. Dreams should be part of our everyday life. — David LaChapelle

We use fashion for status and to beautify and there's nothing wrong with that, but when it becomes completely unbalanced, then you're living a decadent life. And when that happens on a global scale, you're living in a decadent world. — David LaChapelle

Just as Renaissance artists provided narratives for the era they lived in, so do I. I'm always looking beyond the surface. I've done that ever since I first picked up a camera. — David LaChapelle

The minute you point a camera at something, you are manipulating the image, because you are cropping out whatever is to the left and right of it. The minute you put a light on someone, you are manipulating the image. — David LaChapelle

I believe in a visual language that should be as strong as the written word. — David LaChapelle

With mania, is it dangerous to ride that euphoric feeling. You feel very animated and creative; I would fill journals with drawings. It feels good and you want it to last, but it can lead to being delusional. The delusions can be as real as you thinking you can fly. — David LaChapelle

I like thinking about the fragility of the human flesh and our bodies - our decay and eventual death. — David LaChapelle

There's nothing that symbolizes loss or grief more than a mother losing a child. — David LaChapelle

I didn't see any difference between being a photographer or being an artist. I didn't make those boundaries. If someone wants to think it's art, that's great, but I'll let history decide. — David LaChapelle

My mum was one of those people who really wasn't allowed to be an artist, because she worked in a factory and she came from the war and all that stuff. She really has an artist's soul. — David LaChapelle

My work is about making candy for the eyes. It's about grabbing your attention. Even though my work is appearing in magazines I am trying to make a large picture. I want my photographs to read like a poster. — David LaChapelle

I think we're in a post-pornographic time and nothing seems shocking, but everything remains carnal no matter what you do. — David LaChapelle

You just do what you love, and then a style happens later on. — David LaChapelle

Pictures are an escape. They should be bigger than life. In the same way, celebrities provide an escape from the mundane. They are photographed so we can worship them - so they are worthy of our worship. — David LaChapelle

I'm part of what I consider the entertainment industry. For my photos to be entertaining, they have to be provocative and new. — David LaChapelle

I love fashion, beauty, glamour. It's the mark of civilisation. — David LaChapelle

My mother taught me a lot about respect for all living things - for plants and animals. I am a vegetarian. I was brought up that way. — David LaChapelle

I like the consistency of having people in my life for a long time. — David LaChapelle

I went to art high school and thought I'd be a painter. Unfortunately I didn't finish high school, but that's always been part of my work. — David LaChapelle

Prostitutes go to heaven. It's their clients that go to hell. — David LaChapelle

I shoot fantasy. If you want reality, ride the bus — David LaChapelle

I have this idea that you can use glamour and still have it represent something that matters. — David LaChapelle

If you want reality take the bus. — David LaChapelle

I would rather die than be a serious artist, or a fake artist. — David LaChapelle

People say photographs don't lie, mine do. — David LaChapelle

It's much harder to work for yourself, by yourself, than to create work for a gallery, because there are no limits and you can do anything you want. It's always easier when you have a parameter, when you have a limit. You can work within the limit and push it and walk the line, but when you're given absolutely no limits, it's harder. You must really think. It's more challenging. — David LaChapelle

My idea was that if I took a picture of somebody and years later, or whenever, they would die and if someone wanted to know who this person was, they could take one of these pictures and it would tell who the person was. — David LaChapelle

I like the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas more than the actual one. — David LaChapelle

The adornment of the body is a human need. I don't see anything superficial about it unless your life becomes very materialistic. — David LaChapelle

My biggest advice would be to take the pictures you want to take. Don't think about the marketplace, what sells or what an editor might say. And don't think about style. It's all bullshit and surface stuff. Style happens. — David LaChapelle