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Mario Testino may be regarded as the world's premier photographer, but he isn't happy with his lot. "I work with big performers and try to achieve perfection," he tells The Daily Telegraph. "But I think perfection is boring. You can get the girl to look perfect, but maybe the photograph should be more about something imperfect. Otherwise, there's nowhere else to go." The 49-year-old's self doubt is inspired both by his forthcoming half-century and the fact that a recent shoot he did for US Vogue was overshadowed by the work of another photographer. "I had a story with Gwyneth Paltrow and, in the same issue, another photographer had done another story. I saw it and thought: My God, it's so beautiful and my story is so naff! I have to do something a little more edgy." Testino has kick-started his new outlook on life with a book of photographs of children around the world entitled Kids - launched this week with his celebrity fanbase, including Sadie Frost, Jemima Khan and Matthew Williamson, in tow. Starring several of his 11 godchildren as well as offspring belonging to the likes of Sting, Kate Moss and Jasmine Guinness and published in aid of Sargent Cancer Care for Children, the book was also inspired by the death from liver cancer of Mario's 10-year-old brother when he was 17. "As you get older, you start questioning the insignificant role that you play in life," he goes on. "I live a life where people tell you you're fabulous but, if the day after tomorrow I don't produce a beautiful picture, then I'm no longer fabulous. It's very superficial."