In New York, you have the street; in the U.K., we have the beach. I end up being like a migrating bird, being attracted to it.

The ability for us to laugh at ourselves is Britain’s saving grace.

If there is any jarring at all in my photographs, it’s because we are so used to ingesting pictures of everywhere looking beautiful.

I always take photographs when I attend a funeral. Most people there know who I am and expect me to be there with my camera.

We live in a difficult but inspiring world, and there is so much out there that I want to record.

One of the things I regret is that magazines now are so lifestyle-orientated that the opportunity to do bigger projects is gone. This is a serious misjudgment on the part of magazine editors.

Modern technology has taken the angst out of achieving the perfect shot. For me, the only thing that counts is the idea behind the image: what you want to see and what you’re trying to...

My biggest television weakness is ‘Dragons’ Den.’

There are elements of irony in my work, of course.

My profile is bigger in Europe than it is in the U.K.

By default, I am a travel photographer. I work on a combination of commissions and personal projects that take me around the world.

We live in a homogenized world, where it’s hard to get excited when everything is slick and professional. The interesting things are the dull things.

Personally, I don’t take holidays; I go on trips. My idea of relaxing is taking a trip that isn’t commissioned. I’ll work just as hard, but without that nagging pressure of fulfilling a commission. Now...

Choosing sepia is all to do with trying to make the image look romantic and idealistic. It’s sort of a soft version of propaganda.

Dictators are interesting, no?

Photographers never want to talk about the fact that they may well be in decline. It’s the greatest taboo subject of all.

I would drown in objects if I didn’t have the ability to photograph them.

I like to keep in touch with younger photographers. It’s important that a younger generation comes up and questions the assumptions made by old farts like me.

When I visited Vietnam for Oxfam, the thing that really struck me was how the local farmers had to prepare to evacuate or climb to their mezzanines with their valuable family possessions.

I am a big fan of Jim Jarmusch, and I do love big screen documentaries.

For those aspiring to make a living from travel photography, it’s a sad fact that the boring shots are the shots that are going to make you money.

Places change all the time, and the type of people who live there change.