I love the idea I can go off with a single camera and a few rolls of film unencumbered... I was not interested in the illusion of reality, I wanted to get close to what was happening.

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 had in mind a long career.

I don't see anybody as either ordinary or extraordinary. I see them simply as people in front of my lens.

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.

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.