When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph.

There is a myth that the portrait photographer is supposed to make the subject relax, and that's the real person. But I'm interested in whatever is going on. And I'm not that comfortable myself.

The first thing I did with my very first camera was climb Mt. Fuji. Climbing Mt. Fuji is a lesson in determination and moderation. It would be fair to ask if I took the moderation part to heart. But it certainly was a lesson in respecting your camera. If I was going to live with this thing, I was going to have to think about what that meant. There were not going to be any pictures without it.

When I take a picture I take 10 percent of what I see.

My hope is that we continue to nurture the places that we love, but that we also look outside our immediate worlds.

The pictures of my family were designed to be on a family wall, they were supposed to be together. It was supposed to copy my mother's wall in her house.

You have trust in what you think. If you splinter yourself and try to please everyone, you can't.