FL: What were the major influences in your career?

HALSMAN: My training as a student of engineering was responsible for my emphasis on precise, sharp and clear photographs. My interest in psychology has made me conscious of the fact that photographic technique produced psychological overtones which could either reinforce or weaken and destroy the content which the photographer wanted to convey.

FL: Photography has undergone a tremendous popularization. As a pioneer, what effects have you noticed?

HALSMAN: I always compare photography with writing. There was a time when only a few could read and write. If one wanted to write a letter one had to go to the public scribe. Now everybody can read and write. Yet we still have professional writers, but we have then because they are artists or because they have something to say. The analogy with photography is complete. There was a time when only the professional photographer could produce photographs. Now practically everyone can photograph. Yet we will still need professional photographers who are artists or who have something to say.

FL: Do you have any regrets concerning you career?

HALSMAN: In Paris, my life was more relaxed and pleasant than here. The tempo was slower, the deadlines were less deadly. Here I learned that often you have to sacrifice your own private life in order to be successful in photography. This kind of work is nerve-racking and stressful. Periods of feverish activity alternate with periods of exhaustion and recovery. If I could relive my life, I would try to work less for others and more for myself.

FL: What do you consider to be your major contribution to photography?

HALSMAN: When I came to this country, magazine covers were mostly of famous personalities. They were either snapshots or self-consciously posed photographs. I was told very often that one could immediately recognize my photographs because in contrast to others they were not superficial but showed a kind of inner depth. It seems to me that this was my major contribution because if I look at today's covers and portraits, I see more and more photographs which are attempts to capture the character of the subject.

FL: Thank you very much.

HALSMAN: De rien.