I use the legitimate controls of the medium only to augment the photographic effect... As long as the final result of the procedure is photographic, it is entirely justified. 

 Those people live again in print as intensely as when their images were captured on the old dry plates of sixty years ago... I am walking in their alleys, standing in their rooms and sheds and workshops, looking in and out of their windows. And they in turn seem to be aware of me. (On photographs by Jacob Riis) 

 Simply look with perceptive eyes at the world about you, and trust to your own reactions and convictions. Ask yourself: “Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream? Can I visualize a print—my own personal statement of what I feel and want to convey—from the subject before me?” 

 The dismal half-baked images of the average “reportage” and “documentary” photography are self damning... the slick manner, the slightly obscure significance, the esoteric fear of simple beauty for its own sake—I am deeply concerned with these manifestations of decay. Gene Smith’s work validates my most vigorous convictions that if the documentary photograph is to be truly effective it must contain elements of art, intensity, fine craft and spirituality. All these his work contains and we may turn to his work with gratitude, appreciation and great respect. 

 Myths and creeds are heroic struggles to comprehend the truth in the world. 

 In my mind’s eye, I visualize how a particular... sight and feeling will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice. 

 Both the grand and the intimate aspects of nature can be revealed in the expressive photograph. Both can stir enduring affirmations and discoveries, and can surely help the spectator in his search for identification with the vast world of natural beauty and the wonder surrounding him. 

 When I’m ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my mind’s eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I’m interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without.