Explain to us how you get doing photography and what makes you
interest on it?
In fact my first steps with photography took place during my childhood. My father
was really addicted with photography, and he guided me in my first approaches
and tentative. But in fact during all this period I knew I preferred drawing, so, after
my architecture studies I wanted to be an illustrator or a comics book author, and
that’s why I started to work as a professional illustrator both for press and publishing
houses. It was in the mid 1980’s.

In the early 1990’s I took an interest in computer graphics and 3D art, working for
several animated cartoons published on CD-Roms. I also designed websites. And
then, I later entered a major telecom group in France as a creation director, but,
finally, in 2005, I decided to pursue an artistic career once again. My goal was to
draw again, but curiously photography took place. In 2006 I bought a DSLR and
I found in photography, and especially in B&W, all I always wanted to tell. Today
photography has become my exclusive means of artistic expression.

You study architecture, is there
anything you have learn on
architecture
subject that helps you creating
a good picture? Please explain.

Of course everything you learn in your
life brings a lot and improve your art.
Architecture is a way to understand
spaces, geometry, rhythm and construction.
As an image creator architecture
is a great inspiration, and a great
subject to shoot, of course. Architecture
has inspired some of my series like
« Versailles » « Cities »or « Les Ravalet ».

A friend once said that if a photographer
can draw, it helps him
doing photography. What do
you think about that?
What’s in the drawing capability
that really helps a photographer
creating a photo.

I agree with your friend. That’s exactly
what I used to think.

You know, I drew comics for many
years, and I think it’s a major art. I really
learned a lot in this job. The way you
have to compose a picture to tell a
story, the scene cuts, the light work,
importance of black, use of shadows,
etc. When I look at some of my photos,

I recognize this influence in the means
I use to take and develop the photograph.
If you just look an illustration or
a comic, you can easily see the means
the author used to bring you in the
action. In my opinion, it ‘s definitely the
same process.

You don’t have a photography
education background. How do
you learn it and how to still get
improved time to time?

That’s right I never learn photography
at school, but my father taught me a lot

when I was a teenager.
But when I started, in 2006, I didn’t
really know what I would do with photography,

but when I realized my first
b&w photos, I did! It was a revelation..
I subscribed to some Art communities
on the internet in September 2006 and
began to show my work. Those communities
really helped me a lot to go
further in each new pic or series. And
it’s a fact that I have really learned a lot
showing my work to others, reading
critiques or single comments. Little by
little I improved the style, listening to
what people said on my photographs,
and finally I felt the direction I want to
take.

wait our next conversation with Bruno in the next posts.

First of all, we improvised an MRT. For
this we used an old oven and connected
it to an … erm … a cathode ray,
the usual, you know … and an ironing
board as an examination table. If you
ask me, that’s the way the real things
are built, they’re just camouflaged
better!
Next we needed a test person, and
who better for the job than my brother
Markus? In the MRT, he was shown a
magazine. And there, can you see it on
the monitor? His brain’s lit up!!! This is
what is known as the “reward centre”. It
lights up most when confronted with
a washing powder advert. See: clear
proof of the potential of brain research!

Now let’s take it a step further: I’m going
to directly access the test person’s
brain. With the aid of, erm … what was
it called again? Ah, yes … with a magnetic
resonance indoctrinator, I’m going
to project my sales message about
ATA, the scouring agent. “Buy ATA! ATA
will make you happy!” And the brain
promptly shows ATA “indoctrination”, as
scientists call it.

So, is it really possible to “specifically
turn a consumer into a buyer and lastingly
manifest a brand in the brain”, as
the agency BBDO predicts?

Well, only 30 minutes on, my brother
was seized by a strong desire to go
shopping, so we took him to the
supermarket. What will he buy, we all
wondered? ATA, of course! There’s the
proof: neuromarketing really works!
Yihoo!

How did you know photography? Tell us from the beginning.
It started as a hobby, and from hobby it became a profession and later it became
a passion. Photography has become a big part of my life. I can only remember
shooting around with a compact camera when I was 13 years old. I took photography
seriously only while I was studying at graphic design school, and that was
14 years ago.

What interesting to you in photography?
I am more of an artist, a trained graphic designer. Photography to me is the fastest
way to create an art piece. My passion is to bring to people pictures of God’s
creation and pictures that touch lives.

You had a graphic design formal education background. Does it
help for your photography capability?
Definitely, we were trained to have eyes for colors, balance, line-arts and flexible
mind to create, etc. I often find myself out there try to create pictures instead of
taking good picture.

What’s the most difficult thing
shooting landscape?
I love the mother nature and the challenge
of the unpredictable weather. We
can have the best equipments in our
hands and as creative as we can be but
if the weather does not cooperate with
us, there’s nothing we can do. To me
that’s a great challenge.

We have seen so many landscape
picture. There are some
photographer that shoot the
same spot but get different
result. What should we pay attention
more to create a better
shot even in the same spot with
others?
Capture with your heart, it will be your
style. The idea is to be creative and not
to follow others. Remember, if the result
of what you are going to shoot will
be the same as others’, what’s so great
about your photographs then? What
impact can it make? A great photogra-
pher’s work will bring the audience to a
new level of visual experience.

Are you a kind of photographer
that tell a message on any of
your photos or a kind that only
pursuit a “good visual”? Please
explain why?
A good picture is when it tells a story.
Often what I capture does not have
the same impact. My job is to build the
stock photo library for the company I
work at, so I literally have to capture
almost everything.

What kind of photo satisfied you
most when creating it?
The kind of pictures that would make
me jump up and down when they were
captured and those that bring smiles to
people’s faces.
Whether it is a portrait, animal or
scenery….I love them all. Today, I enjoy
doing fine art photography and pictures
that leave strong impression to
the audiences.

Mention one word that describe
your photos.
Touching Lives

What is the most attractive spot/
location for you on shooting?
This is a tough question. Every place
I visited had its own beauty, it is the
question of how we appreciate it.

You said “photography is all
about opportunity. An artist
doesn’t make art – art happens.”
please explain.
As an artist, you may plan in mind the
kind of pictures you are going to shoot
but the results may not be what you
expect. You may agree with me that
sometimes the accidental shots are the
best ones.

What should a photographer
have in their mind when creating
a picture regarding that
statement.
Arts can happen anytime, anywhere.
It’s a challenge for a photographer to
always be ready and alert to capture
the moment

Please share us some tips to create
a good landscape photos.
Picture tells a story
Every picture tells a story. As an old
adage goes: “ a picture tells a thousand
words”, so the next time you take a
picture, ask yourself what story are you
going to tell. A good picture is the one
that speaks to you.
Foreground & Background
Photography is about composition. You
can go to a beach and take a picture,
but when you reach home and look
at the picture you took, what do you
see? You probably only see the sky and
the sea. The picture doesn’t look as
beautiful as the real thing. Why? That’s
because you don’t capture the atmosphere.
There are many things present
but you can’t capture them all into your
frame because it’s too big of an area.
That’s why the understanding of foreground
and background is important.
Try to bring a subject by the beach into
the foreground. It could be a flower, a
driftwood, a seashell, etc. This will give
depth to the image you are about to
take.

Colors
My pictures are often very colorful
because I know that colors attract
people’s attention. When I took a shot
of a bumblebee on a flower, I took time
to select the background. Remember,
whenever you take a picture you must
not only concentrate on the subject
matter but also to select a nice background.

Clean-cut
Focus on the subject that you want to
share with others, do not let unnecessary
objects distort your story. Many
times when you take a picture that
you think will be nice but turns out to
be not as nice as you thought it would
be. Why? There are many reasons, one
of them is because you have included
too many subjects in the same image.
Remember, when there are unnecessary
objects come into your frame, crop
it off. That is what I mean by Clean-cut.

Angle
It will be interesting if you can capture
your images from an angle that unpredictably
different from what others
would expect it to be/ from what others
would normally see . Capture your
images at a different angle and not at
eye level. It will give your pictures a
different feeling. If I shoot a picture from
the top of a tree, I’m also taking my
audiences up to the tree with me.

Warm Up
Most good pictures come unexpectedly.
Usually when I go on a photography
trip, I only shoot rubbish during
the first few days. You need to warm
up in order to get your system ready
to capture images. I remember on one
occasion I saw a man walking down the
road carrying two piles of wood one
on each side. Suddenly a gusty wind
blew his hat away up to the air. When I
finished focusing my lens, the hat had
already landed on the ground. A good
shot was missed! I said to myself if only
I had warmed up, I’m sure I would have
captured that moment.

Think Out of the Box
Do not think too technically because
it takes away your creativity. Get out
of the box! You will probably agree
with me that many experimental shots
turned out to be quite good. Allow
yourself the latitude to explore. Especially
with digital SLR camera today, no
film cost, so why wait?
In conclusion, photography is about
practice more than possessing a
creative eye, it is about making an
effort. You don’t wait for the picture
to come. You go for it. You must have
the attitude of mind that everything
has its own beauty and your role is to
bring out the beauty of each subject.
Remember you are the creator of the
image. You are the author of the story
that you are about to tell.

What brought you to do photography?
Could you share with us
a little bit of your background
story?
My passion for the creative world started
when I was very young. Of course, at
that time, I didn’t know anything about
photography. Our family had one camera
and it was this beautiful vintage
Voightlander. At the age of about 4, I
broke that camera into small pieces.
Obviously after that I was grounded;
not allowed to touch another camera
(hahahaha), at least not until I was old
enough to learn.
I liked drawing a lot when I was
younger and in particular, drawing
female figure. I know most kids love to
draw, however I was much more obsessed
with it than the other kids were.
I hardly paid any attention in class; I
just drew and drew and drew. Which
obviously got me into trouble many
times with the teachers. (hahahaha).
So, suffice to say I have always loved
and admired the female figure since an
early age.
My dad started teaching me how
to use a camera correctly when I
was about ten. It was a 1978 Canon
Rangefinder. This time I didn’t break it
into pieces and I started learning what
aperture was and what shutter speed
was, etc. But unfortunately, the cost of
buying films and developing them was
too expensive and so I had to stop.
In 2003, I finally bought my first camera.

It was this plastic low-end 35mm
SLR but it was enough to make me
feel over-the-moon. I bought a bunch
of expired films and soon after that I
couldn’t stop snapping almost anything
and everything. But at that time
I didn’t know that it was a start of a
brand new exciting journey in my life.
How did you learn photography?
Did you have a formal education
in photography?
Yes, I decided to take the full plunge
into photography in 2006 and I completed
a ‘Bachelor of Art in Photography’
degree at RMIT University, Australia.
It was here that I went from being
a “weekend warrior” to a professional
photographer.

What is it about fashion photography
that fascinates you?
In one word, women.
As I’ve explained before, since I was
very young I have always been attracted
to women and admired their beauty
and complexity. So I guess I’m doing
fashion photography because it is what
my personality responds to.
Fashion photography is the closest
sibling to movie making. This is one
genre of photography where you can
go pretty crazy with your ideas. One
thing that fashion photography is not
about, is documenting reality. Fashion
photography is never about reality.
It is about fantasy and story telling.
Very much like building a script for a
fictional movie.
You build your concept, create the
characters and put them into a set, and
then you direct the shoot. So you are
creating images – not documenting
reality. And that’s what fashion photography
is all about.
And that is exactly why I love fashion
photography; the dynamic nature of
it. There is always something new for
every photo shoot. Developing new
concepts, going to new places, new
challenges and meeting new and
exciting people. I just can’t ask for any
better job.

Fashion photography seems to
be the choice of many young
photographers nowadays. Could
you share some thoughts on this?
There are many reasons for this I think.
There is a general perception that
fashion photography is the “coolest”
genre in photography. People think
that being a fashion photographer is
so glamorous and you get to hang out
with beautiful girls all the time.
When you tell people that you are a still
life photographer for example, they will
respond “ahhhh okay” (with a bland
looking expression) but if you say
that you are a fashion photographer,
suddenly people’s reactions change to
“wow”. I think this perception is really
distorted because I believe fashion
photography is no more or less difficult
compared to any other genre. But I will
let you have your own opinion on that.
The problem now is that there are so
many other “fashion photographers”
out there who are doing it for the
wrong reasons. What they are doing is
actually very degrading. They just want
to shoot partially or fully nude girls and
basically take advantage of them.

Like what I mentioned before,
there are a lot more fashion photographers
out there nowadays.
Do you think in general their
quality is growing as fast as their
number?
I don’t believe I am in a position to generalize
and judge the quality of other
young fashion photographers out
there. But just like anything else, there
is a hierarchy that goes like a pyramid.
The quality photographers become
fewer and fewer as it gets closer to the
top.

When you are shooting fashion,
what are your goals? What do
you want to achieve and why?
It depends on the project, I suppose.
But in general, a successful shoot for
me is when every component of the
shoot falls right into place. They have
to feel right and “believable”, not forced
nor over-the-top. It has to have this
feeling of elegance.
First the concept has to be striking, the
photography technique used has to
be appropriate for the concept (more
complicated doesn’t mean its going to
be better), the styling has to be great,
makeup has to be neat and flawless,
and the model has to make the audience
believe that she is the character
we are trying to portray.
After the shoot, my team and myself
will look closely at the images. If they
strike us, it means we have exceeded
our own expectation. And hence, it is
successful. So we use a lot of “feeling”
here. After all, it’s not something we
can measure.
And obviously, a successful shoot also
means it has to exceed the client’s
expectation.

Tell us what is the most difficult
part you normally encounter
when conducting a fashion shoot?
Being a fashion photographer is like
being a captain of a ship with a large
crew. It is a big responsibility to carry.
There are a lot of decisions to make
that will eventually determine the success
of the photo shoot.
I am faced with various options and I
have to make decisions all throughout
the process. Whether it is in the
pre-production stage, when shooting,
or when post-producing the images.
And when a huge amount of money is
at stake, making a wrong decision can
be disastrous. And fashion shoots are
almost always very expensive to run.
So failure is really not an option. The
pressure is high.
So I guess the most difficult part of
being a fashion photographer is to be
a Captain who can drive the team to
success every time under any circumstance;
even when things are going
against you. And have you heard the
saying “You are only as good as your
last job!”

Check out the next part of this discussion.