I believe that if it were left to artists to choose their own labels, most would choose none.

We tried to present the ordinary in an extraordinary manner. But that's the paradox because the only thing extraordinary about it was that it was so ordinary. Nobody had ever done it before, deliberately. Now it's called documentary, which I suppose is all right ... We just took pictures that cried out to be taken.

All art is based on non-conformity.

Every great historic change has been based on nonconformity, has been bought either with the blood or with the reputation of nonconformists.

Now, my knowledge of photography was terribly limited.

I confess that Roy [Stryker] was a little bit dictatorial in his editing and he ruined quite a number of my pictures, which he stopped doing later. He used to punch a hole through a negative. Some of them were incredibly valuable. He didn't understand at the time.

How do you paint yellow wheat against a yellow sky? You paint it jet black.