A conversation before a photo session: creating an image together
A photo session can begin long before I pick up the camera. With a conversation, a half-formed wish, a character someone has always wanted to embody. I want to discover the world of the person I am about to photograph: their tastes, their passions, what draws them in and what they would like to explore.
A conversation before a photo session is already part of the creative process. It helps us find a direction that interests us both, one in which the model feels fully involved. The image begins to take shape through that exchange.
A conversation before a photo session: who have you dreamed of becoming?
It is a question I often ask. Sometimes I put it differently: which character do you identify with? Which figure fascinates you, intrigues you or makes you want to try something new?
Archetypes play a large part in my work. They offer a starting point for imagining a presence, an attitude, a story. A warrior, a queen, an enchantress: behind each character lies much more than a costume. There is a way of occupying space, of looking, of facing the world around us.
What interests me is discovering what that figure means to the person who will embody it. The same character can appeal for very different reasons. A warrior might evoke strength, protection, resistance or freedom. Those nuances profoundly change the photograph we will create.
A library of imagined worlds
There are many ways into this exploration. Cinema, literature, illustration, comics, video games, myths and legends offer an enormous store of inspiration.
I enjoy exploring figures and stories from different cultures, each with its own history and meanings. A reference might draw us in through its atmosphere, a silhouette, the tension between two characters or an emotion we struggle to name. It gives us somewhere to begin.
The Tarot de Marseille is another creative companion. I sometimes love using it to open up a new direction. Its figures, gestures and symbols can spark an association that would never otherwise have occurred to us.
We can also begin with a more abstract idea. Freedom, for instance. How might we give it a form? Through movement, posture or a relationship with the frame? What does it mean to the person in front of the lens? Questions like these turn a vast theme into something we can explore together.
An archetype can therefore lead us towards shapes, but above all towards intentions, energies, emotions and sometimes concepts. That is where it becomes especially fruitful for photography.
When words do not come
This is my ideal way to begin. In practice, a conversation does not always reveal a character or a clear wish.
Some people simply do not know how to answer. They want to experience a photo session, but no particular reference comes to mind. Others find ideas more readily through sensation, movement or the feel of a material. Talking about an imagined world can remain abstract; trying on an outfit makes it immediately tangible.
At those moments, I begin with clothing and accessories.
A costume can reveal a whole world. Its texture, weight, cut and the way it moves already suggest possibilities. We can begin to feel a direction before we know how to describe it.
The conversation then continues in another form. We look at what the outfit brings out, what it makes us want to try, what feels right and what does not. The idea becomes clearer through something concrete.
Inside my studio treasure trove
And if no direction emerges? There is still the studio, with its treasure trove of possibilities.
We can arrive without a fixed idea and build something on the spot. Clothes, objects and accessories become starting points. We experiment, bring elements together and let one suggestion lead to another.
This immediate inspiration matters a great deal to me. We do not need to decide everything before the session. There must also be room for what meeting and experimenting together can make possible.
A prepared idea offers a direction. A discovery in the studio may tempt us to change course. Creation draws on both.
Finding our image
Ultimately, what I am looking for in this conversation is a meeting point between our imaginations.
I bring my references, my eye and the possibilities of my studio. The model brings her wishes, sensitivity, reactions and her own way of inhabiting an idea. From that exchange, we can create an image in which she feels truly involved.
Sometimes it begins with the name of a character. Sometimes with an idea as expansive as freedom. And sometimes we need to put on an outfit and see what happens.
Photography begins there too: in our curiosity about what we might invent together.
Which character or idea would you like to explore during a photo session?
Yohann — Yes Photographies
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