Hi, my name is Marc-Henri Ngandu. I am a twenty-one-year-old Lyon-based groovy photographer – and not a blogger. 

Maybe four years ago. I started to shoot a lookbook when I realized I was better at directing, so I started to take pictures very naturally. Just this, nothing crazy.

I like fashion photography because it’s not just about the clothes; it’s more than that.

I think it’s music. No, I’m sure it is. The clothing, location, environment and model can help me take pictures, but music is the one that inspires me and drives me crazy – I love the '70s and ‘80s groove, although I enjoy any other genre.

I don’t want to make an ad (laughs). But I learnt photography with a Nikon, so I still shoot with it. I just use reflex or the first numeric camera because I’m not patient enough to use a film one. I need to see what I do, and then do it again if necessary.

Real. Natural. Bad. I don’t use Photoshop while editing because I want to show people that I take pictures of how beautiful they are. Even if editing is good to hide imperfections, I don’t want any modifications on skin or shape because well have those imperfections. And it’s cool like this! I don’t want to show a lie.

I think that my last answer can work here too. I want to keep it natural, it doesn’t matter if I take portraits, pictures about feelings, clothes, water or an ass. I want to show people how beautiful they are and understand it. One of the main problems with social media now is that some people want to be like someone else and end up forgetting to be themselves.

At the moment, Croco & Co is a Lyon-based ‘talent’ collective made of young creatives working as photographers and filmmakers, mainly. I created it three years ago with my two young brothers, Raphael and Louis. As an anecdote, my family name means ‘crocodile’, and we wanted to share our values with others, especially with young people. The goal is to become a production agency with creative profiles working on visual arts, music and more, and I think it’s possible because we take a new step every year towards that direction.

I think it’s important to let others be at the top when you’re working on a team and you’re the boss/leader of it. It’s about ‘we do’ instead of ‘I do’. So when Jordan asked to be the photographer, I agreed on the condition that I could do the ‘shadow work’, and also if after that, another photographer of the team – like Alex or Motoki – would be in charge of the next shooting. And after seeing the result, I saw the strength of my team and convinced myself I did the right thing.

I know how to mix clothes together for myself, with my own vibe and vision. And sometimes it works on other people. But I don’t really think I can consider myself a stylist. Usually, I just help other members of the crew in some projects. I’m the one with more clothes, so I just bring two or three suitcases.

Because I’m a creative from Lyon, bitch, and very proud of it. When foreigners think of France, they only think of Paris. And many French people are ashamed to say they come from the ‘provinces’, so I think it’s my mission to highlight this.

Making money. Obviously, I want us to keep completing a lot of interesting collaborations and features to make us grow and reach our goal to become a real production agency, which one day will be able to make money.