Juergen Teller

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.

My childhood was very beautiful in some ways and very disturbing in others.

I like people with conviction, who are in control of themselves. I'm not interested in working with a designer who hires a creative director.

You can't get away from fashion. The whole beauty thing is everywhere. It's just really weird.

I never work with a screen. Other photographers have this black thing around, and they go back and look at it. I'd rather spend the time with the subject, photographing or discussing or talking, than staring at this thing. I'd rather look at what's going on.

I had no visual imagination as a child. I liked playing football. That was it.

I find it quite fascinating to see how the body works.

I like Ryan McGinley's work.

There was a stage in my career when I started to have problems with the vanity aspect of the subject. I got frustrated and bored with it. Then I thought, actually, how does it feel to be photographed? That's when I started to photograph myself. That was an incredibly important moment, and it opened up my work tremendously.

It's important to spend time with your work. That's when you see it, when you have a feeling.

I see through my eyes; the camera is just a machine to record it for me.