You know, artists are influenced by other artists. We're all deeply influenced by what's around us; we don't make anything cold. Sometimes we think that we do. But within that, the most important part is that even though we're influenced, what are the levels of invention that we carry forth even as we've been influenced by something that's come before?

I don't like directing a lot of people. So trying to keep things really simple and elegant is my preferred way of working.

I've been busy for a long, long time. I've received a ton of awards in the past few years ... I think they're really great, it's really an honor, but s**t - I really have to work for these things.

I really like the structure of my body. It moves well, it looks good, it photographs well, it understands gesture and nuance.

How you get work done is by exploiting yourself and your feelings, and sometimes people get in the way.

It's fair to say that black folks operate under a cloud of invisibility - this too is part of the work, is indeed central to [my photographs]... This invisibility - this erasure out of the complex history of our life and time - is the greatest source of my longing.

The camera gave me an incredible freedom. It gave me the ability to parade through the world and look at people and things very, very closely.