The artist is one who makes a concentrated statement about the world in which he lives and that statement tends to become impersonal-it tends to become universal and enduring because it comes out of something very particular.

It is easy to make a picture of someone and call it a portrait. The difficulty lies in making a picture that makes the viewer care about a stranger.

I think of myself as an explorer who has spent his life on a long voyage of discovery.

To be a photographer you must have something to say about the world.

The decision as to when to photograph, the actual click of the shutter, is partly controlled from the outside, by the flow of life, but it also comes from the mind and the heart of the artist. The photograph is his vision of the world and expresses, however subtly, his values and convictions.

Every artist I suppose has a sense of what they think has been the importance of their work. But to ask them to define it is not really a fair question. My real answer would be, the answer is on the wall.

Did I express my personality? I think that's quite unimportant because it's not people's selves but what they have to say about life that's important.

Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees.

All light is available light.

If Ansel Adams gets a thousand dollars a print, I want ten thousand.