I dream that someday the step between my mind and my finger will no longer be needed. And that simply by blinking my eyes, I shall make pictures. Then, I think, I shall really have become a photographer.

I always prefer photographing in available light – or Rembrandt-light I like to call it – so you get the natural modulations of the face. It makes a more alive, real, and flattering portrait.

I don't like to work with assistants. I'm already one too many; the camera alone would be enough.

Yes, I sold buttons to earn living. But I took pictures to keep on living. Pictures are my life – as necessary as eating or breathing.

Never boss people around. It's more important to click with people than to click the shutter.

The important thing is not the camera but the eye.

When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.