I took pictures of the objects and artifacts that Patti [Smith] would show to her friends because I wanted to document them.

I didn't do well in high school, but I took photography, and I loved being able to capture moments.

I quickly realized that Patti [Smith] was somebody very special.

I would bring Patti [Smith ] in to the editing room [working on the Dream of Life] and say, "This is a great moment for a voiceover, or a poem," and then we'd bring in some sound design.

We had a hodgepodge of footage. We didn't film [in Dream of Life ]all the time - we would just film periodically, so nothing was synced and nothing was slated.

I shot [Dream of Life] all on 16-millimeter, and I just wanted to learn about Patti [Smith].

The film [Dream of Life] came together when we started editing; it was organic, it became nonlinear and it was its own animal. And I didn't want to tame it, either. I wanted it to be different. It's not your typical documentary.