Many people who excel are self-taught.

Today a lot of things are so celebrity-oriented; it's only because it's celebrity and the photograph is lost. To me it's important to have an image that is a photograph first, not about necessarily who that person is.

Actually, when I first started dabbling in photography, I was still working for my parents as a salesman.

I'd go down to the end of my street, to a garage that had a certain feeling about it, or a particular light; I'd take a picture of a friend who needed a head shot. That's how I learned, instead of having school assignments and learning camera techniques.

Regardless of whether you speak the language or are familiar with a culture, the picture should hold up.

What I particularly liked was that, coming from California and not being involved in the New York scene, I developed my personal way, in my own way, at my own pace.

Coming from California and growing up where I did, I've always had a fondness for and innate sensitivity to light, texture, and warmth.