I really loved music and went to a lot of clubs to see bands and dance. I loved going out.

I'd grown up poor; I had no idea what it was like to be comfortable.

You need to have your eyes open because it's really scary what's happening.

Something about photography is tied to a very specific relationship with the material world. It doesn't have to be, but the way I practice it, it is. So there's an act of observation, but it's not an act of objective recording. It's about framing something and seeing it and understanding that it's relational.

I grew up in Harlem, but I moved to the Lower East Side when I was a teenager and it was ... I feel like when I try to describe it, it doesn't sound believable. It just sounds like you're lying. And I see it on the faces of my younger friends.

I've been taking pictures since I was probably 16. I'm 54, and I can't believe how excited I am.

I like getting stuff out of the way so you can see something clearly, see it sharply, have it be new again.