Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and knowing nothing about Picasso, I had the audacity to knock on his door, became his friend, and took thousands of photographs, of him, his studios, his life and his friends.
David Douglas Duncan
I have taken some hits here and there, but I've been most damaged carrying my little terrier to bed, and I broke my hip turning off the lamp. I've been nicked a few times, but he put me out of business. So life is a very strange adventure.
With Germany conquered, the Kremlin checkmated, Japan converted, it became easier - safer - to peek around looking for someone to fear... and maybe do something about. Ideally, somebody far away, from a country about which almost nothing was known.
Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam were perfect for Lyndon Johnson: 220 million against 18 million, water buffalo and all. No risk, really.
The major economies are not American anymore. They are Asian and South American.
War is the easiest photography in the business. Just get close, be lucky, know how your camera works. There are subjects everywhere. Everyplace you go, there is something to photograph in a war, like being in the middle of a hurricane or a train crash or an earthquake. You can't miss it.
I was a war correspondent in Korea. I did a book on it: 'This is War.'
Today, Japan is one of the few countries in the world where one hears laughter everywhere.
Gandhi was a strange guy. There was this simplistic manner; but nobody knows what it cost to provide the simple life of Mohandas Gandhi. Nobody. He traveled on a train by himself.
So many people are exploiting the name Picasso - and, in a way, even the estate is doing it.
The Marines in Korea never feared 'friendly fire' or artillery coming from the South Koreans - from their allies - like they did later in Vietnam, fighting with the South Vietnamese. The Koreans could be trusted.
War is in the eyes.
My only rule: I never photographed the face of the dead, ever, out of respect for the families.
I don't think you can impose a social order from the top down.
Some guys can run fast, some guys can sing, I found I could take photographs that people were interested in.
After I left the Marines in '46, I wanted to stay in the Marines; I was very happy - I loved that life.
