You know, I don’t really think I’m a pure
landscape photographer even if, it’s a
fact, I often shot landscapes… I’m going
to try to explain..

Mainly, my photographs are my way to
show and express some of my feelings
and my personal perception of what
surrounds me. Photography, for me, is
not about reproducing the world. I’m
not really interested in making an accurate
copy of what I see out there. In
fact, I really prefer the power of suggestion
over description. What you can see
in my photographic work goes through
my own filters. OK… all the elements in
my photos exist, and everybody could
easily see them, but my goal is to offer
an artistic interpretation and above all
an emotion.

When everybody have a camera,
the first thing they shoot is landscape (beside people
around them). But not so many
people can shoot landscape on
a very good quality. What have
they missed on shooting landscape?
Why not so many people
can shoot good?

It’s really a very difficult question. I
don’t know. And I don’t know what is «
a good photo

I just could speak about what amazes
me, what touches me but certainly not
what is good or not. Creating image
isn’t easy. For me it’s just a need, a must
do, pics are a great part of my life, I love
doing that, and that’s what I do the
best in life.

You shoot landscape mostly (or
even all) in black & white. Why?
Don’t you like taking landscape
on color?

As I’ve already said, b&w was a revelation
for me, it’s the way I found to
express all of my feelings. I love the
colors of life, but my pics don’t speak
about reality, just about my emotions
and feelings. I can’t express my feelings
in colors.

What inspired you & triggered
you on taking photos?

More than landscapes which surrounds to do a good photograph
me, my goal in my photographic work
is just to share a poetic feeling in order
to emphasize imagination, a door
opened on the dream of the light. But
to answer more accurately, I would
say I just show the elements I see and
use those elements as catalysts for my
own imagination and hopefully for the
viewer’s imagination. I’m generally attracted
to places where stories can take
place, where imagination can be fired.

What kind of picture deserve
labeled as “the great one” on
your opinion?

One which could touch my heart.

Mention one word that describe
your photos.

Two words, please.. I would say light
and motion.

Share some tips for them who
want to learn photography appropriately.

I’m afraid I’ve no serious tips to share.
The best advice is to have fun, to open
your eyes to the world and let your
feelings going on… techniques is techniques
and it never speaks about how
More than landscapes which surrounds to do a good photograph

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.

Share us some tips on how to
discover our distinct personal
style in our work.
This is probably the question I cannot
answer for you. If you are doing any
form of art whole-heartedly over a long
period of time, you are actually doing
a study about yourself. It is a journey
of discovering who you really are in
person, the deepest, unseen fragments
of yourself.
When you have a body of work in
which people can recognize you
through, you’ve successfully formulated
your style. So keep on doing
your art and reflect back on your own
work continuously. It is a journey and it
won’t happen overnight.

Share with us also the mindset &
habits that we should have to be
up to date to the current trend.
(I don’t quite understand this question)
Look at other photographers work and
study them carefully. Question them
why, why and why? Why are they good
or why are they not good?
Find a few artists whose work inspires
you the most and move towards that
direction.
Now I’m not talking about the work of
Joe the photographer from around the
corner here. You should be looking at
world’s best photographers’ work to
inspire you. Aim high and it is okay to
be a little bit ambitious, because that’s
what will take you far.

What words describe your work
best?
If I can only choose one word, it would
be the word ‘sultry’.
Sure I have made many non-feminine
images but I always tend to fall back
to my own nature – soft, feminine, and
sultry.

In your opinion, what makes a
great fashion photographer?
If we look back, the iconic fashion
photographers have always been those
who can reflect and respond to the
social issue happening in their era. And
they dare to respond to that controversially.
Helmut Newton is one good
example for this. And we have photographers
like Steven Meisel and David
Lachapelle in our time now.

And whats the definition of
“great image” for you?
Oh wow, it’s like asking what is the definition
of delicious food! Everyone will
have different opinions about this.
But art is about self-expression and it
is something that comes from inside
the creator’s feeling. So it works on a
personal level. Hence, in my opinion,
a piece of art is great when it is able to
evoke the emotion of the viewer.
This applies to photography. If you can
create an image that can evoke the
emotion of the viewer, whether it is
love, sadness, grief, awe, or even anger
or whatever it may be, you have made
a great image. And an image with emotional
level impact like that will not be
forgotten easily.
A great image has to work on a deeper
level than just being ‘eye candy’, like a
postcard photo that you will forget in
no time at all.

Could you share with us, beginners,
how to learn photography
effectively?
I think when you start learning photography
there are a few things that
you have to do. You have to start by
learning the basic camera operations
like shutter speed, aperture, white
balance, ISO, etc. You really need to
get very familiar with these. Also, learn
about what different focal length of the
lens have different effects on your image.
And finally and most importantly,
learn how to use artificial light sources,
flashes and tungsten.
This is photography not cameragraphy,
so please stop wasting time arguing
about which camera is the best and
which lens is the sharpest. Many photographers
spend way too much time
discussing about their equipment. My
advice is, to buy the equipment that
you can afford and get over it and start
shooting. Working professional photographers
treat their cameras as a tool
to create their work, just like a painter
uses a brush to paint.
After you pass that basic stage, you
need to learn how to make striking
images more than just correctly exposed
or correctly composed. This is the
stage where you have to think a lot and
prepare a lot before you shoot. Learn
about colours, learn about light, and
most importantly learn about making
conceptual images.
And the last stage, which I have discussed
before, is finding your work style.
This won’t happen overnight and will
take many years on the field to develop.

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.