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.

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.

I've been with Life now for seventeen years and I have written several articles for them and will be doing more writing and do at least two assignments a year besides my writing.

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

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

I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty.

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.