Meet the Photographer: Eugene Richards

Palais des Congrès, 5 September 2009

It's easy to see ourselves in these pictures. They're quiet, human things. So much of photography is about explosive things. These pictures are ordinary and that is what people are responding to.

When Obama was elected, it was less a celebration than letting your breath out. We could breathe again. We were hopeful. But now we don't know where it's going.

There's a silence in America about the war. There are no fighters left. People just say "Fuck it."

People ask, "What's different about these pictures? We've seen it all before."

People didn't like some of the people in the book. You can't believe some of the shit they say. The issue here is the suffering from the war. It's about flesh and blood and suffering. But everyone tries to obscure it with some other issue.

I'm pretty anonymous. I'm profoundly boring. People forget I'm in the room. People don't give a shit if I'm there.

People often ask why I work so closely with people. I often wonder if it isn't because I'm terrified of people. I like to work with long lenses. It's what has conditioned my photography and it's the way I have to work.

In all of these pictures you need to know who these people are and where they come from. You can't tell that in a caption.

I should have done this project a long time ago.