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

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

You have a 45mm automatic pistol on your lap, and I have a 35mm camera on my lap, and my weapon is just as powerful as yours. (To Black Panther militant Eldridge Cleaver)

I have always felt as though I needed a weapon against evil.

I was there less than a year before I was assigned to the Paris bureau. I spent two years there and, in fact, before I even went on the staff I was sent to Europe to do assignments which they wouldn't normally do for a young photographer just starting out.

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

I think maybe the rural influence in my life helped me in a sense, of knowing how to get close to people and talk to them and get my work done.