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.

There is just something about the common being. My education pretty much came from the streets, just connecting with people, different cultures. I gained the wealth just engaging at that level. I'm still like that. I continue to document everyday people versus the stars.

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.

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.

When you look at my photos, just look into the eyes of my subjects. The eyes say so much.

Photography is humbling, it really is, and it really allows for me to atone for some of the missteps I've made throughout the course of my life.

My camera is my compass; it's guided me to so many different places.