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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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