A mysterious flight of steps in Paris makes me question whether I photographed something that I only imagined.

Art has a habit of asking awkward questions, in particular about our perception of what is real: Is the photographer eyewitness, accomplice or arranger? The woman in London was taking pictures of her friends, in a scene that reminded me of a photograph that I made in 1979 in Vienna.

The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld rules out T-shirts for himself categorically. He finds them offensive to his taste. Lagerfeld says that a properly tailor-made shirt not only looks better but it will actually keep you cooler, dryer and more comfortable in hot weather. For at least 25 years I have not heard him change his opinion on this subject. Lagerfeld creates fashion but he has style.

This morning I read in the Guardian about L’Oréal having to pull ad campaigns featuring actress Julia Roberts and model Christy Turlington because the images were overly airbrushed. As a portrait photographer my approach to portraiture has always been to find my sitters’ inner essence and natural beauty – without airbrushing. I really do believe that everybody is beautiful, it just depends on how you look at them.

Self portraiture has always been important in photography. One variation on this subject is for the photographer to document his presence without actually being in the photograph.

When used in a sexual context, the term fetish has dark, deviant and morally suspect undertones – and this makes it interesting to the artist in questioning the concept of reality.

The photograph as obscure social commentary.

On photographing strangers, who, through random acts of communication, cease to be strangers and become people that I have met.

Remember film? This photograph is called “Lone walker returning from a day at the lake”. I made it a very long time ago with my first Nikon camera on Agfa CT18 slide film. Both, the camera and the film, have long gone out of production. And now film is cool again.

Analysing the traffic logs for my website and blog I have noticed that one of the search terms that people use to come to my site is “mature nudes”. The term mature is in itself problematic. Whilst there is nothing wrong with it per se, it becomes laden with pre-conceptions and is almost derogatory when used as in “mature women” because it implies that the passing of time erodes beauty and desirability. I believe that photography has a duty to examine such conflicts in society.