One of my all-time favorite photographers is Irving Penn. I wish I could have watched him work.

I think you have to have a real point of view that's your own. You have to tell it your way. And, I think that it's a mistake to shoot for a specific magazine's point of view because it's never going to be as good. You have to shoot for yourself and photograph [ the way] you believe it.

A great photograph needs no explanation; it functions by suggestion. There is no need to be explicit.

The obsessions we have are pretty much the same our whole lives. Mine are people, the human condition, life.

Sometimes I work on film sets. I've done this for 40 years. I always wanted to photograph on the set of an Ingmar Bergman film. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity.

A good print is really essential. I want to take strong documentary photographs that are as good technically as any of the best technical photographs, and as creative as any of the best fine-art photographs. [...] I don't want to just be a photo essayist; I'm more interested in single images...ones that I feel are good enough to stand on their own.

Photograph the world as it is. Nothing's more interesting than reality.