Making Of
Artistic approach
A photograph rarely begins the moment the shutter is released.
It begins with an idea, a theme, a direction. Even before the first shot is taken, there is an artistic intention: to look at a type of place, a territory, a light or an atmosphere, and then decide to make a coherent series out of it.
I don't work in pure improvisation. Even if an element of chance always remains, my approach is based on a project that is thought out, constructed, and planned. I start with a subject—Parisian cafes, facades, urban spaces, San Francisco, a landscape—then I quickly define the artistic direction: what I want to show, what I want to avoid, what light to seek, what atmosphere to favor, what unity to give to the whole.
It is from this intention that the real work begins.
I photograph places the way one takes portraits. A place is not merely a backdrop. It possesses a presence, a history, a way of inhabiting the space. My goal is to reveal this presence, to highlight it, to give it a strong and lasting visual form.
The project before the image
Each series begins with a simple question: what can this subject become as a photography?
A Parisian café, for example, could be photographed like a street scene, with its customers, passersby, and bustle. That's not the approach I chose. In the Parisian Cafés Collection, I wanted to show these establishments as urban presences, almost like characters, captured in a moment of calm before the city's hustle and bustle.
This decision changes everything. It determines the time of day, the type of light, the composition, the relative absence of passersby, the role of the signs, the importance of the facades, and the place of the neighborhood within the image. The series, therefore, is not based on a chance encounter, but on a repeated and refined intention, image after image.
The artistic project consists of defining this framework, then remaining faithful to it while allowing each place to express its uniqueness.
An art direction
Once the theme is chosen, I define an artistic direction.
It can focus on light, color, framing, the relationship between the place and its surroundings, the degree of silence or human presence, the prominence given to architecture, signs, lines, and shadows.
This approach is not a formula. It is a way of unifying the perspective.
In Parisian cafés, the artistic direction relies heavily on the interplay between the blue of the morning and the warmth of the interior lights. Facades, terraces, signs, and streets become elements of a portrait. Each image belongs to the same visual family, yet each café retains its own unique character.
The identification
Each series begins with a simple question: what can this subject become as a photography?
A Parisian café, for example, could be photographed like a street scene, with its customers, passersby, and bustle. That's not the approach I chose. In the Parisian Cafés Collection, I wanted to show these establishments as urban presences, almost like characters, captured in a moment of calm before the city's hustle and bustle.
This decision changes everything. It determines the time of day, the type of light, the composition, the relative absence of passersby, the role of the signs, the importance of the facades, and the place of the neighborhood within the image. The series, therefore, is not based on a chance encounter, but on a repeated and refined intention, image after image.
The artistic project consists of defining this framework, then remaining faithful to it while allowing each place to express its uniqueness.
Plan the conditions
Each series begins with a simple question: what can this subject become as a photography?
A Parisian café, for example, could be photographed like a street scene, with its customers, passersby, and bustle. That's not the approach I chose. In the Parisian Cafés Collection, I wanted to show these establishments as urban presences, almost like characters, captured in a moment of calm before the city's hustle and bustle.
This decision changes everything. It determines the time of day, the type of light, the composition, the relative absence of passersby, the role of the signs, the importance of the facades, and the place of the neighborhood within the image. The series, therefore, is not based on a chance encounter, but on a repeated and refined intention, image after image.
The artistic project consists of defining this framework, then remaining faithful to it while allowing each place to express its uniqueness.
A portrait session
Once the theme is chosen, I define an artistic direction.
It can focus on light, color, framing, the relationship between the place and its surroundings, the degree of silence or human presence, the prominence given to architecture, signs, lines, and shadows. This approach is not a formula. It is a way of unifying the perspective.
In Parisian cafés, the artistic direction relies heavily on the interplay between the blue of the morning and the warmth of the interior lights. Facades, terraces, signs, and streets become elements of a portrait. Each image belongs to the same visual family, yet each café retains its own unique character.
An art direction
Once the theme is chosen, I define an artistic direction.
It can focus on light, color, framing, the relationship between the place and its surroundings, the degree of silence or human presence, the prominence given to architecture, signs, lines, and shadows. This approach is not a formula. It is a way of unifying the perspective.
In Parisian cafés, the artistic direction relies heavily on the interplay between the blue of the morning and the warmth of the interior lights. Facades, terraces, signs, and streets become elements of a portrait. Each image belongs to the same visual family, yet each café retains its own unique character.
An art direction
Once the theme is chosen, I define an artistic direction.
It can focus on light, color, framing, the relationship between the place and its surroundings, the degree of silence or human presence, the prominence given to architecture, signs, lines, and shadows. This approach is not a formula. It is a way of unifying the perspective.
In Parisian cafés, the artistic direction relies heavily on the interplay between the blue of the morning and the warmth of the interior lights. Facades, terraces, signs, and streets become elements of a portrait. Each image belongs to the same visual family, yet each café retains its own unique character.
An art direction
Once the theme is chosen, I define an artistic direction.
It can focus on light, color, framing, the relationship between the place and its surroundings, the degree of silence or human presence, the prominence given to architecture, signs, lines, and shadows. This approach is not a formula. It is a way of unifying the perspective.
In Parisian cafés, the artistic direction relies heavily on the interplay between the blue of the morning and the warmth of the interior lights. Facades, terraces, signs, and streets become elements of a portrait. Each image belongs to the same visual family, yet each café retains its own unique character.
An art direction
Once the theme is chosen, I define an artistic direction.
It can focus on light, color, framing, the relationship between the place and its surroundings, the degree of silence or human presence, the prominence given to architecture, signs, lines, and shadows. This approach is not a formula. It is a way of unifying the perspective.
In Parisian cafés, the artistic direction relies heavily on the interplay between the blue of the morning and the warmth of the interior lights. Facades, terraces, signs, and streets become elements of a portrait. Each image belongs to the same visual family, yet each café retains its own unique character.