Taking photographs and writing is my way of saying I was here, I saw this, I felt this, I heard this.

Most photographs, to me, are description, but they lack insight.

To fulfil a fantasy is the quickest way to destroy it.

The question of truth is forever in the air, and people look for it with particular fervor in art.

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.

Most portraits are lies. People are rarely what they appear to be, especially in front of a camera. You might know me your entire lifetime and never reveal yourself to me. To interpret wrinkles as character is insult not insight.

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.