In Holland, things were pretty stale for me. Even though there were a lot of good influences and a certain openness to music and art and literature, I just wanted to go somewhere less familiar - somewhere bigger.

I'm pretty solitary when I take pictures. Even when I take pictures of people, I just go about my own way of doing it.

My photography has really always been about what I feel I'm getting out of it. What people on the outside get doesn't concern me.

I'm a very curious person. And most people are charmed by curiosity - especially if you are curious about them or what they are doing . . . unless they are breaking into a car or something.

I have always made films simultaneously, so they go hand in hand. I think that my books are like films.

Holland is a fairly small country, and in a weird way, somewhat conservative. That might surprise people because it is a very tolerant place, but it's also a somewhat Calvinist country. There isn't much flexibility in changing people's perspectives.

In New York, unlike Holland, there are newspaper stands on every corner. That was a big headline all over the city.