I see through my eyes; the camera is just a machine to record it for me.
I have a Mercedes. I wear a Rolex watch. I have no problem with the selling of things.
When I was a child, I always went to my grandmother's house in Nuremberg for Christmas. My uncle would leave the room, saying he needed the toilet, and then he would reappear dressed as Santa Claus. I was really scared - I'd have to go and hide behind an armchair.
I don't try to be original; I just always want to do something that excites me.
Most fashion photography is done by gay people finding women sexy - which is sort of not sexy at all, at least to a heterosexual man.
I would never ask somebody to do something where I felt that it's not right or it puts someone in an uncomfortable position.
I cycle whenever possible around London. But I travel first class when I need to fly.
My father never really encouraged me or even took an interest after I walked away from the family business. No one did except my mother and my grandfather. To be truthful, I cannot remember one meaningful conversation I had with my father.
I had no visual imagination as a child. I liked playing football. That was it.
I couldn't identify with the images in 'Elle' or 'Vogue' or 'Harper's Bazaar.' Nobody in the world we're walking around in actually looks like that.
I think my moral ground is very much intact.
It's important to spend time with your work. That's when you see it, when you have a feeling.
In Bavaria, many homes have a cosy room which is all wood and is filled with special things. My grandfather had such a room, and he made the panels on the walls himself; each one told a story.
I think the range of my life shows in my work.
One day, I'll be photographing Kate Moss in Paris, then I'll be on Stephanie Seymour's ranch with her hundred horses wondering what exactly it is I'm doing there.
I don't care about fashion at all.
If I do a portrait, I know what they can take. If somebody's a sweet, shy person, the photographs will be sweet and shy. Of course, you ask people to do something which they might not have done before, but that's the journey, the fun element.
I just really like women, and I like men, and I like children, and I like eating, and I like doing everything.
I'm interested in the person I photograph. The world is so beautiful as it is; there's so much going on, which is sort of interesting. It's just so crazy, so why do I have to put some retouching on it? It's just pointless to me.
Back in 2000, I didn't have a mobile phone.
