Indeed. I discovered the camera at that age; I found it magical. How was it possible to keep memories of past moments? What a crazy machine! I was so intrigued. My melancholy decided what to do next: I became a photographer.

I started photographing my friends (either male or female) around the age of 20, but little by little, I was surrounded more and more by boys. It happened a bit accidentally because when I started out, I photographed a lot of famous people. I worked a lot and didn’t have the time to devote myself to personal work. But in 2007, I did my first work on adolescence and its representation through clothing (titled Dress Code), which mixed girls and boys. Then in 2011, I started shooting boys on a much more regular basis, which resulted in my first book, Modern Lovers, published in 2013.

Religion has been replaced by today’s religion of consumer society. The principles are the same: crowd control. In this case, ideological and mercantile control.

To me, this is exactly what this moment between the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood represents: fragility and, at the same time, confidence (often fake). I like to show this duality.

My books sell a lot abroad. I believe that, indeed, this French touch is incredible. We are such a free country. Let’s not forget that the Republic is represented by a topless woman holding the French flag! That’s the difference.

Totally. These groups only think about money. For them, man must become an object. There must no longer be an elite; they are the elite. They’re trying to impose a new model of society, and as Americans, they are the kings of prudishness, so their culture is about regression and passivity of the masses, which isn’t new. They indeed point their fingers at nudity while messages of hatred or violence aren’t removed. It is quite terrible because screens don’t encourage reflection.

Indeed. Straight white men in the 20th century decided that the female nude was no problem but that the naked man was for perverted homosexuals only. Fortunately, everything has changed very quickly in the last ten years, and my work has always been in this direction. I find the male nude often elegant, far from the obscenity and deviations, which are only in the minds of those who are disturbed by them.

Yes. It is all a matter of point of view reduced to one’s own desires. It will still take time for the male nude to be on par with the female nude. The straight man still has trouble comparing his penis to that of the model photographed. But for example, women love to see naked guys!

I don’t know. Sometimes they do certain poses to develop their confidence, while others just do it without taboo. They are often straight and very comfortable with their body.

I was born in Paris, and yes, it’s amazing to have made this book because I had to testify what was going on; I couldn’t stay at home. In the end, it’s not that far from my usual work. There’s a sense of continuity or parallelism. It’s sober, minimalist. I always photograph empty sets, and in all my books, there are pages with these images. Paris Silence is, therefore, just the painter’s portrait of an empty city.

I was just an opportunist! The weather was magnificent; We had never seen so much sun at that time of the year. Everything was photographed vertically with a 24 mm lens and in colour – colour imposed itself; black and white would have been a mistake. A lot of people tell me that the book is great and especially not anxiety-provoking. There is calm, silence, beauty.

Very good question. There will remain a testimony of a period of collective madness. This book marks the passage between the world before and the one after. The lack of political courage sacrifices people a little more every day. We no longer accept that death is present in our lives. I am not a philosopher, but I believe that in some time, with hindsight, we will say to ourselves ‘society was crazy.’

Being alone has been a gift. I was in a state of happiness and calm. It is a wonderful memory.