In my first class at the University of Kentucky, my American Literature professor came in, and the first sentence out of his mouth was "The central theme of American Literature is an attempt to reconcile what we've done to the New World." wrote that down in my notebook, and thought, "What is he talking about?" But that's what I think about now. The New World and what we've done to it.

I wanted life to be episodic. I wanted to be a magazine photographer and I was willing to do what it took to become that.

It's more difficult now, to be a Geographic photographer, than it was when I came along. And it wasn't easy at that time.

There isn't an aspect of book creation I don't enjoy, and there has always been a book in my life to dream about or work on.

There are things that I teach, about building photographs, and that's why people come to my workshops. When people come to the workshops, they're consumed with seeking the subject, and I teach seeking the setting.

I was known as a 35-mm photographer with a view-camera mentality.

...just like some people's instinct to photograph is triggered by vacation... assignments might be that to me and that's why I've built my life around assignments. That was the way to live the photographic life.