...i Gave Up On Being A Journalist

I Think Self-portraits Are Very Difficult. I’ve Always Seen Mine As Straightforward, Very Stripped Down, Hair Pulled Back. No Shirt. Whatever Light Happened To Be Available. I’d Want It To Be Very Graphic – About Darkness And Light. No One Else Should Be There, But I’m Scared To Do It By Myself. I’ve Been Thinking About It For A Long Time. The Whole Idea Of A Self-portrait Is Strange. I’m So Strongly Linked To How I See Through The Camera That To Get To The Other Side Of It Would Be Difficult. It Would Be As If I Were Taking A Photograph In The Dark.

You Have Trust In What You Think. If You Splinter Yourself And Try To Please Everyone, You Can’t. It’s Important To Stay The Course. I Don’t Think I Would Have Lasted This Long If I’d Listened To Anyone. You Have To Listen Somewhat And Then Put That To The Side And Know That What You Do Matters.

I Didn't Want To Let Women Down. One Of The Stereotypes I See Breaking Is The Idea Of Aging And Older Women Not Being Beautiful.

I Admired The Work Of Photographers Like Beaton, Penn, And Avedon As Much As I Respected The Grittier Photographers Such As Robert Frank. But In The Same Way That I Had To Find My Own Way Of Reportage, I Had To Find My Own Form Of Glamour.

When I Started To Be Published I Thought About Margaret Bourke-white And The Whole Journalistic Approach To Things. I Believed I Was Supposed To Catch Life Going By Me - That I Wasn't To Alter It Or Tamper With It - That I Was Just To Watch What Was Going On And Report It As Best I Could. This Shoot With John Was Different. I Got Involved, And I Realized That You Can't Help But Be Touched By What Goes On In Front Of You. I No Longer Believe That There Is Such A Thing As Objectivity.