David Bailey famous quotes

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.
-- David Bailey

#Photography #Imagination #Ordinary

I never cared for fashion much, amusing little seams and witty little pleats: it was the girls I liked.
-- David Bailey

#Girl #Witty #Fashion

A positive attitude can really make dreams come true - it did for me.
-- David Bailey

#Inspirational #Positive #Dream

To get rich, you have to be making money while you're asleep.
-- David Bailey

#Money #Making Money #Rich

I never tried to revolutionise photography; I just do what I do and keep my fingers crossed that people will like it.
-- David Bailey

#Photography #People #Fingers Crossed

The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading.
-- David Bailey

#Reading #Advice #Knowledge Is Power

Rockers are the nicest people to photograph. They have no inhibitions.
-- David Bailey

#Photography #People #Rockers

Fashion often starts off beautiful and becomes ugly, whereas art starts off ugly sometimes and becomes beautiful.
-- David Bailey

#Beautiful #Fashion #Art

I hate men who are in touch with their feminine side.
-- David Bailey

#Hate #Men #Sides

The reason I did fashion was it was the only way to get paid to do anything creative. You couldn't support yourself as an 'artist' - I hate that word. The only way you could be 'arty' was as a fashion photographer, because it still had a certain amount of integrity involved.
-- David Bailey

#Fashion #Hate #Integrity

Anybody can be a great photographer if they zoom in enough on what they love.
-- David Bailey

#Zoom #Photographer #Enough

The only thing approaching art in a movie is the script.
-- David Bailey

#Art #Scripts

I was a terrible father. The most I ever did for my children was to teach them chess. At least they got that.
-- David Bailey

#Children #Father #Chess

I'm not really one for regrets.
-- David Bailey

#Regret

Rather than knowing more, I think I've got more open-minded.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #Knowing #Open Minded

London changes because of money. It's real estate. If they can build some offices or expensive apartments they will, it's money that changes everything in a city.
-- David Bailey

#Real #Cities #Office

Being trendy is dangerous. I've never been trendy, which is why I've never really fallen out of favour.
-- David Bailey

#Favour #Trendy #Dangerous

I am not responsible for all the journalists in the past that have told lies.
-- David Bailey

#Lying #Past #Responsible

I didn't know a time when there wasn't a war because I spent all my time from the age of two or three to eight in a coal cellar really.
-- David Bailey

#War #Eight #Two

The Sixties was a time of breaking down class barriers, although I think class still exists today in some areas.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #Class #Today

The only thing they can't teach you at art school is art.
-- David Bailey

#Art #School #Teach

The skull is nature's sculpture.
-- David Bailey

#Skulls #Sculpture

I didn't know I was going to live for 50 years. It has come as a shock.
-- David Bailey

#Years #Shock

I left school on my 15th birthday.
-- David Bailey

#Birthday #School

All pictures are unnatural. All pictures are sad because they're about dead people. Paintings you don't think of in a special time or with a specific event. With photos I always think I'm looking at something dead.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #People #Special

It is a sign of a dull nature to occupy oneself deeply in matters that concern the body; for instance, to be over much occupied about exercise, about eating and drinking, about easing oneself, about sexual intercourse.
-- David Bailey

#Drinking #Exercise #Body

I was surrounded by strong women so it had never even occurred to me that women were anything other than equal to men.
-- David Bailey

#Strong Women #Strong #Men

People want security in this insecure world.
-- David Bailey

#Insecure #People #World

Being handsome wasn't much of a burden. It worked for me.
-- David Bailey

#Handsome #Burden

I always go for simplicity.
-- David Bailey

#Simplicity

When I die I want to go to Vogue.
-- David Bailey

#Want #Vogue

Sometimes I still can't believe my luck.
-- David Bailey

#Believe #Luck #Sometimes

I was dyslexic, so I was put in the silly class at school.
-- David Bailey

#Silly #School #Class

Fortunately I didn't get educated because if I'd got educated I'd be an educated fool now.
-- David Bailey

#Fool #Educated #Educated Fools

Girls are more attractive to me than dresses.
-- David Bailey

#Girl #Dresses #Attractive

I like change. There's something Buddhist about it - continuous change is wonderful.
-- David Bailey

#Buddhist #Wonderful

Being dyslexic, I was told that I was an idiot all the time.
-- David Bailey

#Idiot #Dyslexic

All I could do at school was paint and draw and that was the only time I ever passed any exam. It was the only thing I ever got right at school.
-- David Bailey

#School #Exam #Paint

I don't like any sport except boxing and bull fighting.
-- David Bailey

#Sports #Fighting #Boxing

My friends are all megalomaniacs - from Damien Hirst to Jack Nicholson - all of them.
-- David Bailey

#Nicholson

My paintings are rubbish.
-- David Bailey

#Rubbish #Painting

The trouble with people like Tony Blair is they get confused, they think intelligence is education when they're two different things.
-- David Bailey

#Confused #Thinking #Two

You adapt to who you're photographing.
-- David Bailey

You can't really copy what I do because I don't do anything.
-- David Bailey

#Copies

You have to kind of be invisible when you photograph children, so you use a longer lens.
-- David Bailey

#Children #Lenses #Use

Actors are hard to photograph because they never want to reveal who they are. You don't know if you're getting a character from a Chekhov play or a Polanski film. It depends what mood they're in.
-- David Bailey

#Character #Play #Actors

I don't see the point of photographing trees or rocks because they're there and anyone can photograph them if they're prepared to hang around and wait for the light.
-- David Bailey

#Light #Rocks #Tree

In '73 I photographed the cannibals in New Guinea. They treated me OK but they didn't make you feel relaxed... I managed to escape unscathed though, I'm pretty good at that.
-- David Bailey

#Guinea #Feels #Cannibal

It's only a few nutcases who do art for themselves, like Van Gogh.
-- David Bailey

#Art #Vans

My first influence obviously was Picasso.
-- David Bailey

#Firsts #Influence

Journalists never make it clear when you are joking.
-- David Bailey

#Clear #Journalist

I know everything should be photographed. It helps me make sense of my existence.
-- David Bailey

#Helping #Help Me #Should

I don't feel very optimistic in London.
-- David Bailey

#Optimistic #London #Feels

I don't think global warming is to do with us, I think it's a natural circle. I don't think a few Ferraris make that much difference.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #Circles #Differences

I don't think my work does reflect my nationality - I don't like the idea of nationalism.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #Ideas #Doe

I had a terrible time with feminists in the Seventies. They hated me, those women. I think they hated everything.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #Feminist #Terrible

I hate being so nostalgic about the Sixties.
-- David Bailey

#Hate #I Hate #Nostalgic

I love learning new techniques.
-- David Bailey

#Technique

I never set out to be a photographer.
-- David Bailey

#Photographer

I was ten when I got my first serious beating. It was rough.
-- David Bailey

#Firsts #Serious #Rough

I'm never shocked, I'm not the shockable type!
-- David Bailey

#Type

I've always been a bit flip.
-- David Bailey

#Flip

I've been used by women all my life, fortunately.
-- David Bailey

#Used

If you're curious, London's an amazing place.
-- David Bailey

#London #Curious

In France they don't think I'm difficult.
-- David Bailey

#Thinking #France #Difficult

I didn't try and do fashion pictures. I tried to do portraits of girls wearing dresses.
-- David Bailey

#Girl #Fashion #Trying