William Klein

Memories. That's the thing about photography. I look at the contact sheet, and it brings back everything: whether I was tired, whether I was full of beans.

Fashion had no interest for me. I would take photographs in the studio. I would go back home, and my wife would say, 'What is the fashion like for this season?' And I would say, 'I have no idea.'

Most of the other soldiers were older than me and sent money back to their families, so they were more prudent.

If I look back, I think most of the things I did - the films, the books, the collaborations with these magazines - were mostly by accident.

As a kid, I wanted to be part of the Lost Generation who came to France.

In America, kids would go to college and get out and buy a second-hand car and go across the country and discover America. I never did that; I went from New York to Paris, and New York was my America.

Don't have rules, taboos, or limits.

I was a very clumsy Jewish kid.

The kinetic quality of New York, the kids, dirt, madness - I tried to find a photographic style that would come close to it. So I cropped, blurred, played with the negatives.

When I was a kid in New York, long before saturation sports coverage, the world heavyweight championship was, with the baseball World Series, the great national event.

Fashion was more of a sideline for me. I did it for the money.

Why did I take fashion photographs? I thought it was fun. And there was a lot of money.