HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I was born in a small village near Bordeaux in southwest France. There I discovered that photography was my magic passport to the world. After two years in photography school, I enlisted in the French army and was assigned to the audiovisual department. During my service, I traveled to Lebanon and covered my first war story.

After the army, I joined a French wire agency, Agence France Presse (AFP), and became a professional photographer. There I began shooting regularly for the daily newspaper Libération. Taking photographs every day became a real exercise and a challenge; I became addicted to it. A year later, I joined Contract Press Images and began working in color, something I had hardly done. What a discovery! Through color I found new challenges and a new way to express myself.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE ASSIGNMENT?

Although I love long-term assignments, I savor short ones as well. One short assignment remains vivid in my memory. In 1994 I shot pictures of the besieged city of Sarajevo for the New York Times Magazine. The cover and ten pages of the magazine were reserved for my photographs. I had seven days to get into Sarajevo, shoot, and leave. Although I was on a tight deadline, I was free to express myself. I was not constricted by the assignment as I had been in the past covering the war in Croatia and Bosnia. In Sarajevo, I shot very little film compared to what I normally shoot, but I didn’t need to; I knew exactly what I wanted. My subject was the city itself, and I felt an acute awareness that I was entirely into the story. I was working in harmony with my vision; I had a perfect sense of timing.

WHAT MAKES THIS PORTFOLIO SPECIAL TO YOU?

After photographing war scenes so often, I felt compelled to involve myself in projects where I could gain a deeper understanding of people. I suppose that is the reason why I decided to focus on religion—the mythical and the sacred, something hidden and precious for people. In short, I wish to photograph the invisible after having shot the obvious for years.

ANY ADVICE FOR ASPIRING PHOTOJOURNALISTS?

Never let yourself get discouraged by people who tell you photojournalism is dead. Most of the time those people are weary of the profession. You have to understand where they are coming from. You yourself will be standing in the same place in a couple of years.