I think that photography has allowed me to have a voice. I used to stutter, and once I overcame that struggle, it felt good to tell people they were beautiful and special.

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.

I'm shooting a gangbanger, but as a dignified man. That's pretty much what war photography did: seeing images of soldiers in a dignified way. They might have been killers in Vietnam, but I'm seeing another side of them, and looking at images of the the American soldiers, also the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong - I never saw an enemy.

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

The photograph is to a great degree evidence of the conversation I had with the person. It's a part of my visual diary.

For the most part, as a society, we are not happy with ourselves.

I read a recent statistic that eighty-seven percent of women are dissatisfied with themselves, and over forty-seven percent of men. My work is visu-medicine to heal people and see beauty within people.