So I went to Chicago in 1940, I think, '41, and the photographs that I made there, aside from fashion, were things that I was trying to express in a social conscious way.

The camera could be a very powerful instrument against discrimination, against poverty, against racism.

I bought my first camera in Seattle, Washington. Only paid about seven dollars and fifty cents for it.

Many times I wondered whether my achievement was worth the loneliness I experienced, but now I realize the price was small.

I'd become sort of involved in things that were happening to people. No matter what color they be, whether they be Indians, or Negroes, the poor white person or anyone who was I thought more or less getting a bad shake.

You know, the camera is not meant just to show misery.

Enthusiasm is the electricity of life