I have always avoided photographing in the studio. A woman does not spend her life sitting or standing in front of a seamless white paper background. Although it makes my life more complicated, I prefer to take my camera out into the street... and places that are out of bounds for photographers have always had a special attraction for me.

I was lucky to have my wife as the art director, and it turned out to be quite something - a great success. I'm very proud of it.

In the photographs themselves there's a definite contrast between the figures and the location - I like that kind of California backyard look; clapboard houses, staircases outdoors.

Some people's photography is an art. Not mine. Art is a dirty word in photography. All this fine art crap is killing it already.

In my vocabulary there are two bad words: art and good taste.

I spend a lot of time preparing. I think a lot about what I want to do. I have prep books, little notebooks in which I write everything down before a sitting. Otherwise I would forget my ideas.

Look, I'm not an intellectual - I just take pictures.