Janusz Korczak was not a photographer, yet he profoundly shaped the way I see children.

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He taught me that before asking a question—or taking a photograph—we must first lower ourselves to a child's height. Only then can trust begin. Only then can we enter their world without disturbing it.

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Korczak believed that children do not live in preparation for life. Their thoughts, fears, dreams and questions belong fully to the present. They deserve to be listened to with the same respect we give to adults.

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For many years, in different countries, cultures and religions, I asked children simple questions and listened without trying to correct, explain or interpret their answers. What emerged was not a study about childhood, but a collection of voices—honest, funny, profound and sometimes unexpectedly wise.

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These photographs are not really about the children in them. They are about the adults looking at them.

Children do not need to become adults to understand the world. Sometimes adults need to become children again to understand it.

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To photograph a child, I first had to lower myself to their height.

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Only then did I realize I was the one who had to rise to theirs.