When I go to photograph somebody, they say, What do you want me to do? Those are the most frightening words in the English language. I want to say, Please, go over into good light and do something unusual.

In a painting no one complains that the subject is posed, but everybody complains about what looks posed in a photograph. Except, I've found that if I go very close in to the face, then the posed expression no longer exists. The face becomes a landscape of the lakes of the eyes and the hills of the nose and the valley of the cleft of the chin.

If you want something to look interesting, don’t light all of it.

A Ming vase can be well-designed and well-made and is beautiful for that reason alone. I don't think this can be true for photography. Unless there is something a little incomplete and a little strange, it will simply look like a copy of something pretty. We won't take an interest in it.

Teachers don't work in the summer, and photographers don't shoot in in the middle of the day.

Perishability in a photograph is important in a picture. If a photograph looks perishable we say, Gee, I'm glad I have that moment.

Usually I think if there is something imperfect in a photograph it makes the picture more real. Photographs that are slick, smooth, and imperfect seem less honest to me.