This beauty ideal is everywhere. You can't escape it - TV, wallpaper, posters, billboards, magazines. They put on these crazy perceptions about what people should look like. It's really shocking the way everybody is striving for this one thing, this ultimate beauty, but what is it?

Everything in a wide sense is a kind of a self-portrait. It's just the way you see things and you're curious about certain things and just excited about them.

I don't care about fashion at all. And I know it's kind of a dodgy thing to be a fashion photographer, a kind of pathetic occupation, but I like it, even though I question it.

It's important to not be afraid of failure and to push yourself to try things and jump in the cold water. There are incredible, beautiful opportunities out there.

When you're a well-known fashion photographer, modeling agencies call constantly. They'll say, This great girl is in town for three days. She's excellent, she's exciting. You've got to see her... So I decided to really have a look at them. I opened up my studio and said, Send anyone... And I became quite addicted to the whole thing. I was curious to see how many girls would come. I couldn't believe that there really were so many around.

I don't like taking a sly picture on the side. I like the direct approach. I want to be as honest to myself and the subject as possible. And I'm depending on their humanness to come through.

This beauty ideal is everywhere. You can't escape it - TV, wallpaper, posters, billboards, magazines. They put on these crazy perceptions about what people should look like. It's really shocking the way everybody is striving for this one thing, this ultimate beauty, but what is it?