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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.