Lou Gala

each time an artist write me down saying that my pictures touch her/him and she/he is willing to pose for me, my heart skips a bit. even more when I see something special in them...

Lou gave me a rendez-vous near the place I used to live in and loved with all my heart, but had to leave very suddenly. so it was very nostalgic for me, find myself there in the morning at a cafe knowing that I don't live here any longer. and then she passed the door and all my thoughts about the past evaporated...

from the very first second we felt very comfortable with each other. despite her age she is one of the most intelligent and adequate teenagers (and let's be honest adults too) I know, you don't have that feeling that you are talking to a child. she is an actress and she also sings with her dad ! her parents are very supportive in her career, which is pretty rare in the case of artists.
we talked about everything and nothing drinking our tea and then we went to the park I knew so well but never did a single shooting out there.
Lou has that pure kind of beauty that the actress Alexis Bledel also has and she made me think about her while I was shooting : white skin, dark hair ant those gorgeous huge blue eyes. and it's funny because I immediately felt that I want to shoot her in a strange dark spooky kind of ambiance one day.
I know that our paths crossed for a reason and hope we will work together very often.

Nelli Tsay

we've spend with Nelli Tsay a huge amount of weeks willing to meet with each other and work together. she saw my pictures, I saw her face, but we were too shy, I guess, to make a first step towards one another.
and then she commented on one of my pictures, I responded and very quickly we set the date.
Nelli is a big traveller, she is a very hard to catch kind of girl. I don't remember how but we managed to find one hour in between her flights to make a mini-shoot and drink a coffee together.
my expectations were approved when I saw her. gorgeous exotic girl, very sensual, stylish and photogenic.
around the coffee she told me about her acting career that started pretty early back in Saint Petersburg and pursued all around the world, and that she is always on the run between different projects in different countries and how she is loving it.
Nelli is a very strong and determined person, she knows where she is going and makes everything that is in her power to get there, no excuses, no self-pity. I can learn a lot from her and I know I need more people like this around me in order to progress and build the confidence in myself and in my work.
we also share the same kind of believes and sensitivity towards life with Nelli. my only regret is that we didn't had a lot of time for shooting and for talking. but I know we will see each other very soon...

model : Nelli Tsay, Venin Agency

Glwadys Le Moulnier

I perfectly remember the first time I've met Glwadys. my first thoughts were who is this magnificent wooden creature, she looked like an elf to me. and she also was so energetic and sweet, we started pretty quickly to laugh a lot together. she is such a lovable person.

her blood is mixed : her mother is Guadeloupean and her father is French, and usually the strong gene is the black one (that's what they say) but not with Glwadys she took only the blonde gene ! she is pale with gorgeous blond hair and bright blue eyes. once I saw her with her mother and it's crazy how they are completely different. nature works in a mysterious way.

the day we've met for the shooting I just wanted to catch her amazing hair in the sun but then I saw that she is very fluid and natural in her modeling poses, so I made her do some crazy stuff and I love the result.

me & the model

Ali B

Ali contacted me few months ago, he needed the pictures for his book.
we've met at the place he choose, the one you can see very often in my pictures. it was a cold afternoon or at least I was cold, Ali was changing his clothes and didn't seemed to mind it whereas I was shivering...
"the cold is only in your head", - he told me. I still don't know how could I live in Siberia for 16 years...

we talked at the same time as I was shooting him, it was even faster then usual. Ali has that amazing capacity to translate in the pictures his emotions in a fraction of a second and has different faces, I saw in him : at least 3 different actors, one family related member and my high-school crush. this is the other thing I don't understand : how could some people have that special something, that is visible only when the camera is pointing at them ? it's like they can take the other shapes, as if they have several beings that live inside of them. and it is not even beauty or charm it's something else, much more deeper ! and of course they are the best gift for my inner eye.
our shooting was very spontaneous I felt like I could experiment more with him, then I usually do. then we grabbed a tea together and talked about everything and nothing, it was so easy.
some meetings are really meant to be and you can feel it, even if we don't understand why at the moment...

few days later I send the pictures to Ali, as always a bit nervous : "will he like it or not ?". and now I have on my answering machine the best return about my work ever ! thank you Ali for your reaction and your words, it's etched in my head !