I fell in love with photography by developing a lot of black and white films, then printing on paper, sometimes good photographs, often bad ones. The appearance of the image in the developer showed me the magical side of photography. It’s fair to say that shooting has always been at the heart of my work, but without printing and developing, my endless curiosity and interest in photography would not have been as strong.

I started out in the world of photography at the age of 17 when I bought a complete used laboratory from another student in my secondary school class. It was a set containing a Durst B30 enlarger, a Paterson developing tank, cuvettes and clamps. My long experience of photography has been largely self-taught. But I was given good advice on developing and printing photographs, including framing, masking and correct exposure, when I was a member of a photographic club during my second year at university.

So, for many years now, I’ve been developing my method by focusing mainly on two components that form the basis of my photographic production. The first is balance, and the second is what I call a balanced aesthetic. With these two components, I try to achieve harmony through my photographs, whether in black and white or color. Some witnesses have found my images beautiful, even poetic; this, of course, being their own vision or perception. So, has my expression been understood? I think so.

I can’t forget to mention that, over the years, I’ve been influenced by a number of people in the visual arts whose artistic work coincides with my vision of the image. I’ve never really thought about the real influence they’ve exerted, but intuitively, they’ve certainly steered my work. These people include photographers Raymond Depardon and Ansel Adams, filmmakers Terrence Malick and Alejandro González Iñárritu and their various cinematographers, and the painter and sculptor Edgar Degas.

In the future, I’d like to develop my photographic interests by taking a more thematic or even documentary approach, as can be seen, for example, in the superb work of Raymond Depardon in his photographic work entitled La France.

Jean.