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

Categorized in : Thinking Challenges Lines

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

David LaChapelle

fantasy want reality

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

David LaChapelle

everyday dream reality

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

David LaChapelle

remains matter thinking

I still go to church occasionally. I went the other day and found peace.

David LaChapelle

stills church found

People say photographs don't lie, mine do.

David LaChapelle

photography lying people

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

David LaChapelle

hell clients heaven

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

bullshit editors thinking

The matriarchal society 1300 years ago in Egypt was a peaceful society; that's where you had no war for thousands of years! When they switched to patriarchal society, when the male energy ruled, we became obsessed with the greed. Now we are in this time of intense greed!

David LaChapelle

egypt war years

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

photographer world ideas

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

photographer years ideas

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

crafts photography ideas

I have always gone to nature, since I was a kid. I was brought up in the woods, I did not have lots of friends, so I spent lot of time alone. My mother always loved to live in the forest; she loved gardens, birds and nature and taught me a deep respect for that. She taught me about growing food and vegetables and to take care of animals. They also have feelings. So nature was always something sacred for me, the place I can go, meditate and pray. It's like a church in the nature for me.

David LaChapelle

garden mother kids

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

eye trying attention

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

buying-things shopping real

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

differences art thinking

There is nothing ugly in sexuality or in the body. It's human!

David LaChapelle

ugly sexuality body

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

David LaChapelle

interest photograph want

If you want reality take the bus.

David LaChapelle

bus want reality

As an artist you have a choice. You can add more confusion and darkness to the world or you can shine a light, make a beauty.

David LaChapelle

confusion light artist

I think that the world is really in very dark ages. In America this could have never been showed, we are even more lost over there than in Europe. We are very lost!

David LaChapelle

dark europe thinking