In some sense, what I was doing was perverse, for I was drawn to photograph in places where I didn’t particularly like to be. I would say ‘I love these places,’ and I didn’t really, at least not in the sense my audience probably thought. I was secretly afraid that the discrepancy indicated some irremediable bad faith at the heart of my enterprise, but I didn’t know what I could do about it since I didn’t want to do anything else. It took some time for me to understand that my discomfort was a sign that I was where I needed to be.

—Frank Gohlke