I don't really believe in the mystery of cinematography - what happens in the camera is what the cinematographers create and all that nonsense.

I am concerned that the subtlety is being lost and every film tends to look very contrasty and saturated.

When I first started, I saw myself shooting documentaries or making documentaries, which is what I did, mostly, for a number of years. So it was quite a surprise how I found myself shooting features. It was like my wildest dreams as a kid collided.

There's nothing worse than an ostentatious shot or some lighting that draws attention to itself, and you might go, 'Oh, wow, that's spectacular.' Or that spectacular shot, a big crane move, or something. But it's not necessarily right for the film — you jump out, you think about the surface, and you don't stay in there with the characters and the story.

I think of filmmaking as a form of communication. Maybe it's also an art, but that's for somebody else to decide.

All I’ve ever wanted to do is take stills of people, or take documentaries about people, and try to express to an audience how somebody lives next door. You know what I mean? Just how similar we all are as individuals.

Maybe that sounds a bit pretentious, but I think life experience is always more important than technical knowledge.