Now, when I came on to Washington to begin my job, I was so interested in photography at that time that I really would have preferred to work with Stryker than with my department, which was more artistic if you wish.
I began after college, about 1972. I began to teach myself photography. I went to work for a local newspaper for four years as a kind of basic training.
My uncle was a photographer for 'The Irish Times.'
I'm not a photojournalist.
The reason I call myself a documentary photographer is the idea of how photographs contain and participate in history.
I realize that I had the best of serious picture journalism.
If you look at photojournalism, it's largely driven by current events... always chasing a crisis or disaster. I follow a narrative that is much looser than current events.
As much as I'm not a journalist, I use journalism. And when you photograph a relationship, it's quite wonderful to let something unfold in front of you.
