I can often tell when drawings are done from photographs, because you can tell what they miss out, what the camera misses out: usually weight and volume - there's a flatness to them.

The moment I got a very big studio, everything took off.

But slowly I began to use cameras and then think about what it was that was going on. It took me a long time, I mean I actually played with cameras and photography for about 20 years.

I stay up nights and fiddle with my opera designs. It's a bit obsessive. That's why I can't do it all the time.

I've no doubt that those photographs i took will make people look at everything in a more interesting way - the little tear on one piece of paper, the shadow on another. But good painting has always done that - made you see things. And the most ordinary can be the most extraordinary.

I don't value prizes of any sort.

Photographs aren't accounts of scrutiny. The shutter is open for a fraction of a second.