I make the woman look at the camera as a symbol of all the eyes that will see the picture I am making.

[Revealing character] can't be done by pushing the person into position or arranging his head at a certain angle. It must be accomplished by provoking the victim, amusing him with jokes, lulling him with silence, or asking impertinent questions which his best friend would be afraid to voice.

In my serious work I am striving for the essence of things and for goals which are possibly unobtainable. On the other hand, everything humorous has great attraction for me, and a childish streak leads me into all kinds of frivolous endeavour.

Herein lies the main objective of portraiture and also its main difficulty. The photographer probes for the innermost. The lens sees only the surface... .

I am often asked which picture is my favorite. This is like asking a mother which child she likes the most.

The head of the photographer is more important than his camera

A good portrait is incredibly hard to create, there is too much temptation to pander to the individual rather than portray them as they really were