One of the marvelous things about film is that if you expose it long enough you're going to get a picture.

I am interested in the nature of things. The nature of something is quite different from the way it looks.

Photography is essentially an act of recognition by street photographers, not an act of invention. Photographers might respond to an old man’s face, or an Arbus freak, or the way light hits a building—and then they move on. Whereas in all the other art forms, take William Blake, everything that came to that paper never existed before. It’s the idea of alchemy, of making something from nothing.

Taking the photograph is the easiest part for me

If I indulge myself and surrender to memory, I can still feel the knot of excitement that gripped me as I turned the corner into Rue Mimosas, looking for the house of Rene Magritte. It was August, 1965. I was 33 years old and about to meet the man whose profound and witty surrealist paintings had contradicted my assumptions about photography.

I already know what things look like - I don't want description. People believe in appearances, and I don't believe in appearances at all.

And in not learning the rules, I was free. I always say, you're either defined by the medium or you redefine the medium in terms of your needs.