And now, I feel at 85, I really feel that I'm just ready to start.

I suffered first as a child from discrimination, poverty ... So I think it was a natural follow from that that I should use my camera to speak for people who are unable to speak for themselves.

I do find a certain fascination with the unpredictable. The transitory years we wade through are what they are- what we make of them.

At first I wasn't sure that I had the talent, but I did know I had a fear of failure, and that fear compelled me to fight off anything that might abet it.

Success can be wracking and reproachful, to you and those close to you. It can entangle you with legends that are consuming and all but impossible to live up to.

I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.

Washington, D.C. in 1942 was not the easiest place in the world for a Negro to get along.