I remember when we were at Sundance, we were in Robert Redford's screening room, and I had never seen the film look so beautiful or sound so great. It was really big and really powerful, and I had a sense of accomplishment in finishing a project like this.

I was making a film [Dream of Life] about Patti [Smith], but I was taking pictures, too.

For me to see the film [Dream of Life] on a big screen - it's pretty extraordinary.

For me, moving from photography to film was very easy.

When I went to Detroit, I was very naïve, actually, and I think Patti [Smith] picked up on that quite quickly.

Because the filming process was so organic and there was no script, the film [Dream of Life] was literally telling us what it wanted to be in the editing room.

I didn't do well in high school, but I took photography, and I loved being able to capture moments. It led to more and more photography, and fashion was the angle into photography for me. It was incredible to see photographs by Irving Penn or Helmut Newton. I was really intrigued by that, and that's what led me to New York City.