Lauren Greenfield Quotes

I started as a documentary maker, and they're my first love.

I'm not a documentarian. I'm not a photojournalist.

I do love acting. But to work as a photojournalist would have been extraordinary.

I realise that I had the best of serious picture journalism. There was an innocence in our approach, especially in the 1950s and 1960s when we naively believed that by holding a mirror up to the world we could help - no matter how little - to make people aware of the human condition.

If I wasn't a comic or TV star, I really wanted to be a photojournalist. That was my other dream job.

I'm a commercial filmmaker.

I'm a documentary photographer. That's what I've always wanted to be; that's where my heart and soul is.

I don't want to knock photography, and I don't feel that film is up there but photography isn't. I think they're next to each other really, you know. There's an incredible strength to a still picture. Or there can be an incredible strength to a still picture that can outlive you. That can outlive a film.

I'm really interested in having a studio one day and being a filmmaker.

I became a photographer in order to be a war photographer, and a photographer involved in what I thought were critical social issues. From the very beginning this was my goal.

I don't normally make documentaries. I'm a drama director. I've made a few short docs, but I don't like talking heads or 'voice of God' narrators.

When I started my filmmaking journey 17 years ago, I honestly didn't know what a documentary film was.

Feature filmmaking is a different kind of complication as documentary comes in the editing room.

I've rarely seen portrayals of photojournalists that seem accurate.

In December 2011, I will be opening up my production house, Sharmeen Obaid Films, and aspire to change the way Pakistanis approach nonfiction storytelling. There are thousands of stories to be found here.

I never wanted to be called an artist. I wanted to be called a photographer.

Doing a documentary is about discovering, being open, learning, and following curiosity.

I am a filmmaker. That is all I've ever been. You know, Martin Scorsese makes films about the mob. And I make movies about food.

We ended up with 19 hours of footage and had to narrow it down to an hour and a half. Our instructions were to film everything that came up, including the more mundane moments.

I've always been a bit of a documentarian.

My background is sociology. Combined with my graphic approach, if I could do some film projects, I think I'd be very good at making documentaries eventually, but people don't think of me for that, of course. But dialogue is something I know I can be good at.

I came from a background of directing behind-the-scenes documentaries.

I love the idea of documentaries. I love seeing documentaries, and I love making them. Documentaries are incredibly easy to shoot. The ease with which you can hear something's going on, somebody's going to be somewhere: That sounds so interesting. Pick up your camera and go.

I work on stories rather than individual pictures.

I think the greatest thing about making a documentary is your ability to just follow the story and the subject.