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

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

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 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

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 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.

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