Most of the e-mails I get nowadays are from students who ask me how I got my start. In truth its from having a really supportive family but also having a good patron who will help you - like financing all those early trips I took.

I'm making the art for me first. I'm making it because these are the pictures I want to see. I'm making pictures that don't yet exist.

The camera gives you some control.

When I was in art school, the photo kids were separated from the rest. If you did sculpture or painting or graphic design, you were all taking the same classes, but the photographers just went straight into photography.

Whatever emotions you're going through, you somehow seek out the people that are going through similar emotions or that maybe have something you need.

When I moved to New York, I was still in the closet.

I didn't have much of a life in crime as a graffiti writer.