I had this notion of what I called a democratic way of looking around, that nothing was more or less important.

I knew it was happening, but I never paid much attention to it . . . just to the passage of time. Something new always slowly changes right in front of your eyes - it just happens.

You become technically proficient whether you want to or not, the more you take pictures.

I don't think that has ever changed. I don't think I see any more or any less than I did years ago. Let's say I have the print of a photo taken in the 1960s and one I took a month ago. I think it's pretty difficult to tell any difference, personally.

There is no particular reason to search for meaning.

I had this notion of what I called a democratic way of looking around, that nothing was more or less important.

Black-and-white photography, which I was doing in the very early days, was essentially called art photography and usually consisted of landscapes by people like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. But photographs by people like Adams didn't interest me.