Philip Jones Griffith documented the Vietnam War, and through his images that were published in Time Life Magazine, it showed me the horrors of war and at that time, I wanted to be a war photographer, based off his work.

Sometimes we are just divided, but we still, for the most part, we have similar hopes and dreams.

There was a time in my life that I may not have been that nice, and now I'm in a position to contribute to the education of young people, and teach them to be compassionate, be more loving, more caring, to not use profanity, to not pollute the environment - these are things that I address in my photography. I

I think that's what the war photography did for me. It showed me the human side of people and how certain circumstances can change people's lives.

The images of war inspired me to create, to go to different situations and communities, to document the human side of people, to show a side that we don't see.

I think what it was with the war photography was the concerned eye, the desire to document these situations to show the world the horrors of war. It inspired me to document prostitution; inspired me to document homelessness in America. We are the richest country in the world, yet we have people suffering, so it helped me to look at things in that manner.

What I strive to do through my work, is to teach compassion. You need to have a lot of it, in this day and time, and it's lacking.