I say half jokingly that photography is the most difficult of the arts. It does require a certain arrogance to see and to choose. I feel myself walking on a tightrope instead of on the ground.

I think there is a period of esthetic discovery that happens to a man and he can do all sorts of things at white heat.

I work rather blindly. I have a theory that seems to work with me that some of the best things you ever do sort of come through you. You don't know where you get the impetus and response to what's before your eyes.

Documentary: That’s a sophisticated and misleading word. And not really clear… The term should be documentary style… You see, a document has use, whereas art is really useless.

Nobody should touch a Polaroid [camera] until he's over sixty

I wanted so much to write that I couldn't write a word.

The meaning of quality in photography's best pictures lies written in the language of vision. That language is learned by chance, not system.