What drove me and kept me going over the decades? If I had to use a single word, it would be 'curiosity.

Lesson number one: Pay attention to the intrusion of the camera.

What I have tried to do is involve the people I was photographing... if they were willing to give, I was willing to photograph.

I look for a sense of reality with everything I did. I didn't work in a studio, I didn't light anything. I found a way of working which pleased me because I didn't have to frighten people with heavy equipment. It was that little black box and me and £5 worth of film in my pocket or maybe it was only £2 in those days.

I found a way of working which pleased me because I didn’t have to frighten people with heavy equipment. It was that little black box and me.

What drove me and kept me going over the decades? If I had to use a single word, it would be 'curiosity.

I realise that I had the best of serious picture journalism. There was an innocence in our approach, especially in the 1950s and 1960s when we naively believed that by holding a mirror up to the world we could help - no matter how little - to make people aware of the human condition.