I do believe in angels and I believe that a lot of these people I'm supposed to meet. The photograph serves as evidence; it causes me to reflect on when I met this person.

When a photographer or a person sees your beauty, your inner beauty, it makes you feel special like, "Wow, someone saw that within me."

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.

I remember growing up and hearing the word "ugly" a lot. "I'm ugly." "She ugly." "He ugly." I hated it then, and I hate it now. I go past physical beauty; I tell people they have a beautiful spirit and that is something different.

For me, the stars are the invisible people on the street that people don't really get a chance to know.

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.