A lot of times I had footage that didn't have sound [in the Dream of Life film] - either I didn't bring a sound recorder, or I forgot to turn on the sound recorder - so we would have to improvise and build those scenes.
For me, moving from photography to film was very easy.
Ultimately, the film [Dream of Life] is inspirational.
When I started photographing Patti [Smith], I knew that there wasn't a whole a lot of information out there about her. I was periodically interested in films, and so I just kept asking her if I could come around.
I came up with more money, took all the footage, got a great editor and made this film [Dream of Life]. But I really didn't go into it with the intention of making a movie.
We had a hodgepodge of footage. We didn't film [in Dream of Life ]all the time - we would just film periodically, so nothing was synced and nothing was slated.
I became Patti's [Smith] messenger, basically, and the film is my view of how I learned about Patti.
I was making a film [Dream of Life] about Patti [Smith], but I was taking pictures, too.
For me to see the film [Dream of Life] on a big screen - it's pretty extraordinary.
I never went to film school, so I just sort of learned on my own.
Patti [Smith] was my experiment, to be honest. And the film is what we got out of it. At the end of the day, I learned a lot about how to make a film.