David LaChapelle's Quotes

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.

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.

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.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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