The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations - each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony.
I have no regrets about my work. To be a photographer was a gift of the gods. I can't imagine anything that would have been better.
If I have chosen the female form in particular, it is because beauty has been debased and exploited in our sensual 20th century.
Seeing comes from the inside, from the heart, from life's experiences.
I never took a photograph. Instead, I became a good listener.
To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman has been my mission.
I had a natural feeling for sculpture, and the nudes are my sculpture.
I allowed life to give me presents. And everything just sort of happened the way it was supposed to happen. I did not pursue anything. It more or less pursued me.
I've always photographed beauty, but I've never been beautiful myself.
I look at ordinary objects, and I see things that other people don't see. That's why I'm a photographer.
I think of the nudes as seed pods, like flowers or grasses. They are universal bodies.
It seems a perfectly normal thing to be 95.
I feel that everything has to come from the heart, and it cannot come from the intellect.
My quest, through the magic of light and shadow, is to isolate, to simplify, and to give emphasis to form with the greatest clarity.
Everything I do is a metaphor of the universal order.
To me... San Francisco is an ideal city, intellectually stimulating and naturally beautiful. The oceans and forests are close enough to refresh the spirit; the architecture is always exciting.
I never question what to do, it tells me what to do. The photographs make themselves with my help.
To indicate the ideal proportion and reveal sculptural mass and the dominating spirit is my goal.
I learned early on that if I was to get attention, I would have to be charming. Even the models I've photographed are often like that. Some of them are not beautiful. But, if you catch them in the right light, they glow.
When I was young, anywhere I would go in Germany, I would see my father's posters. Everyone knew about him. And he had many friends who were artists who were also quite famous. So, for me, it seemed very natural to be an artist and be known.
