My photographs don’t go below the surface. They don’t go below anything. They’re
readings of the surface. I have great faith in surfaces. A good one is full of clues. But
whenever I become absorbed in the beauty of a face, in the excellence of a single feature, I
feel I’ve lost what’s really there…been seduced by someone else’s standard of beauty or by
the sitter’s own idea of the best in him. That’s not usually the best. So each sitting
becomes a contest.