If you are careful with people, they will offer you part of themselves. That is the big secret.

I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women.

Themes recur again and again in my work.

You can't make a great musician or a great photographer if the magic isn't there.

I found a way of working which pleased me because I didn’t have to frighten people with heavy equipment. It was that little black box and me.

I realize that I had the best of serious picture journalism.

A studio session ... provides the greatest chance for control. Even though there is total freedom, I still dislike studio photography and the contrived images that usually stem from this genre.