-    Tell us a little about your background – what path led you to becoming a photographer, and to doing what you’re doing today? How did you discover your focus was documentary photography?

I was born in Paris in 1992. When I was 9, my nanny took me all over Paris to take pictures. I remember it well because it is a truly happy memory, this day I decided to become a photographer instead of train ticket seller. Today those pictures are not far away in a drawer, my finger appears on half of them. Later, I reconnected with my godfather. He was a photojournalist print collector and I spent hours among them. For sure the ideal and collective imaginary of the solitary photographer and explorer had made a strong impression on me. It's something I've learned to deconstruct over the years, but there's still a bit of that childhood dream in there.

-    How do you find your projects and what’s your way of working? 

I like to document places on the outskirts of global headlines. Usually, I’m drawn to a territory before knowing what to do there, or how to do it. Rather than focus on breaking news or current events, I tend to a more reflective approach, embracing the contemplative process of the large-format analog camera. I like to think that my work delves into the invisible yet universal aspects of human experience, exploring themes of memory, generational transmission and resilience. But what emerges from all these themes is our constructions as human beings, our determinisms. How history influences our destinies and paths.

-    What defines a good picture for you? Or what are you looking for in a picture?

It's always a tricky question because I feel that an image can attract me for many different reasons. I imagine that they echo our own sensibility, built up through our own experiences. It’s a feeling more than a rational reasoning. Images that inspire me most have this strange melancholy tension between the beauty and difficulty of our existence.

-    What does photography mean to you?

Once again, such a tricky question! Sounds a bit cheesy but photography is my way to be to the world. It has allowed me to go places I would never have gone, to meet people I would never have met - and to tell others about what is happening deep down.

-    What would be your dream creative project?

Honestly, I don't really have a dream project.

-    Which other photographers, artists or creative people are you loving at the moment?

The very first time I felt struck by an artist was when I visited an exhibition of Richard Avedon's portrait in the American West, in 2008. There’s a new exhibition of this work that just opened in Paris, and I feel excited as a kid again. My admiration for his work never faded, and his influence has never left me since. There is something imperceptible, unspeakable, in the making of a beautiful portrait. An interiority that is both personal and universal. It's wonderful to achieve such a fine balance with such technical mastery. This is something I also find in the work of Andrea Modica, or Bryan Schutmaat.

Jack Davison, lately, has been a huge discovery. I let myself get completely caught up in his world, and his images told me different things in different ways. I don't know if he perceives the same things in them as I do, but that's the richness of photography. His work has opened up unsuspected new horizons for me.