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

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.

I think if I ever get satisfied, I’ll have to stop. It’s the frustration that drives you.

I didn't want to be a woman photographer. That would limit me. I wanted to be a photographer who was a woman, with all the world open to my camera.

What has changed is that when I photographed, most people that I photographed didn't have the right of refusal on their work. It would take a Marilyn Monroe at her height to be able to dictate that.

I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women.

If the chemistry is right between star and photographer and the geometry of the pictures pleases the star, often the two people end up with a long-term professional friendship during which they continue to work together and to produce highly personal images.