I became a photographer in order to be a war photographer, and a photographer involved in what I thought were critical social issues. From the very beginning this was my goal.

I'm half deaf. I have nerve damage and a constant ringing in both of my ears, and there are certain times and conditions when I can hardly hear at all.

I want my pictures to cut through political abstractions... and make a connection on a human level.

I dont think tragic situations are necessarily devoid of beauty.

But everyone cannot be there, and that is why photographers go there - to show them, to reach out and grab them and make them stop what they are doing and pay attention to what is going on - to create pictures powerful enough to overcome the diluting effects of the mass media and shake people out of their indifference - to protest and by the strength of that protest to make others protest.

[Photography] puts a human face on issues which, from afar, can appear abstract or ideological or monumental in their global impact.

Is it possible to put an end to a form of human behavior which has existed throughout history by means of photography?