I think the driving force when I moved to New York was the fear of going home with my tail between my legs.

I was pretty Irish Catholic Jersey, the middle of the line.

Everyone I'm photographing, I feel like I'm remaking a family, in a way. My brothers and sisters are my heroes. So many of my models resemble them.

From 8 to 19, I was skateboarding every single day. That was my life. I worked at a skate shop. I watched skate videos.

The cool part about New York is that you can do that. You can talk to all the people you admire.

I was never told, "Fags are going to hell." You just didn't talk about it.

I went through a pretty big David Bowie period when I was younger, and that has affected me profoundly in my life and my work.