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.

It doesn’t matter if you use a box camera or a Leica, the important thing is what motivates you when you are photographing. What I have tried to do is involve the people I was photographing. To have them realize without saying so, that it was up to them to give me whatever they wanted to give me . . . if they were willing to give, I was willing to photograph.

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.

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.

It's the hardest thing in the world to take the mundane and try to show how special it is.

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