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Aside from my modelling, by the early Nineties I was also starting to work as a photographer, which I loved.

I never planned to be a model at all. I moved to Paris to study art, and I was there working as an artist, taking classes, and I had a little sick dog that I was using up all of my money to try and heal. It was right at that point that this photographer, Errol Sawyer, saw me at the phoning office and convinced me to let him take my photo.

Yeah, I kind of grew up in front of the camera: I started modeling when I was two.

I got a camera when I was nine years old and it wasn't until I was a model that I realized you could be a photographer for a job.

When I was a kid, probably 16 or 17, I got spotted by a model scout that wanted to represent me, and they sent me one modeling job, for Wall's ice cream. I did one job for them, and then a catwalk shoot for Kangol caps, and decided modeling was not for me.

But I was, and still am, an avid reader and so when I first started I chose to photograph many of the great writers in this country to try and earn a living.

I think the only reason I wanted to do modeling, really, was because I knew I wasn't ready to act; I knew I didn't have enough life experience, and I knew that doing photo shoots was a way of acting. Playing a character each shoot and being able to just emerge yourself in these awkward experiences - it was amazing.

Well, in brief, I was discovered by a lady called Beth Boldt. She had also been a model. She used to take pictures of the girls she found, and she took a picture of me one day in my school uniform, and it all kind of started from there.

My mom was a photographer and whenever they needed a baby for a modelling job, she'd stick me in front of the camera. That's how it started.

Many people when I started didn't believe I was a good fashion photographer, and probably they still think that.