That frame of mind that you need to make fine pictures of a very wonderful subject, you cannot do it by not being lost yourself.

... it came to me that what I had to do was to take pictures and concentrate upon people, only people, all kinds of people, people who paid me and people who didn't.

Surefire things are deadening to the human spirit.

Photography today appears to be in a state of flight... The familiar is made strange, the unfamiliar grotesque. The amateur forces his Sundays into a series of unnatural poses.

I had to get my camera to register things that were more important than how poor they were--their pride, their strength, their spirit.

I realize more and more what it takes to be a really good photographer. You go in over your head, not just up to your neck.

To know ahead of time what you're looking for means you're then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting, and often false.