The cool thing for me about moving to New York was that I got to create a new family.

I slowly began making a few photos with animals over the years, and I liked how people reacted to them. When I would have the animals on set, I'd notice the way the models would interact with them and there was so much true emotion that you rarely see between two human beings.

You have to be able to observe life as if you were a camera all the time, constantly looking at light and the way that things are placed and the way people hold themselves. You need the ability to see something in someone or something that no one else really sees and be able to bring that to light. Basically, you have to be an obsessive crazy person.

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.

Whatever emotions you're going through, you somehow seek out the people that are going through similar emotions or that maybe have something you need.

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.

I'm going to put every aspect of myself out into the world and try to convey it through photography.