For a short time I was an assistant to a professional photographer, and I felt that my soul was not there. That is the stage when I decided to stay in London and do a graduate degree.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm a documentary photographer. That's what I've always wanted to be; that's where my heart and soul is.
It wasn't until I realised that I could actually take nice photographs that I started to become passionate about it. I then got a few jobs working for magazines in London, and I would get terribly excited and intense about doing a job and taking photographs and looking through the lens to capture something amazing.
I went to the London Academy Of Music and Dramatic Art and returned to New York where I started my career.
When I left the Royal College, I decided I would only make paintings that I would want to look at myself, that felt close to my life.
My photography is the result of being there at the right moment.
When I worked as a music and fashion photographer, I always had the nagging feeling that there was something missing, that I wasn't using my skills productively. I gave up photography - I walked away from it completely - and started doing care work.
I realized I didn't want to be a photographer. I gave it up, but I still worked that job in the restaurant and I found myself constantly hanging out in the kitchen.
I have no regrets about my work. To be a photographer was a gift of the gods. I can't imagine anything that would have been better.
I've always considered myself to be a travelling soul. I've never felt out of place anywhere.
In 1994, after four years of talking about travel on my first show, I realized I knew so little about the world - I knew so little about myself. I decided to quit my job and pursue a postgraduate degree in New York.