In the 1980s and 90s he introduced a distinct blend of high-octane energy and offbeat spontaneity, through predominantly black-and-white images, into the traditionally commercial form of fashion photography. In the 1990s, as the second staff photographer in "The New Yorker Magazine's" history (following Richard Avedon), he emerged as one of the world's foremost portrait photographers, capturing hundreds of subjects ranging from Mother Theresa and Salman Rushdie to Mick Jagger and Mikail Baryshnikov. He describes his style as “art reportage,” which he calls the “taking of reality and turning into art.”