Your work, in a few words?
My work reveals an exacerbated sensuality. The naked woman is vulnerable in her exhibition. She confronts the surrounding world and its harshness with personal strength. To be naked is much deeper than simply being without clothes. This brings us to the critical gaze of society, and my typical woman seizes this challenge by asserting it boldly. I like curves and architectural lines, and I like to associate them with female subjects who strike a sometimes macabre, sometimes intimate pose that always needs to be decoded.

How do you choose the locations?
The choice of location is often a matter of rigorous and intensive research. I spend whole days there, and each time I realize that they are more than places. I have to take into consideration the light, the textures. The time of day is also a determining factor. I also need to be sure I can do it! When do you do your shoots? Obviously, very early… Yes, I like when the sun is at its lowest in an overcast and sometimes rainy sky.

What are the most common reactions of passers-by during a shoot?
Most of the time, people wait for the end of the shoot, they applaud and thank us for having brightened up their day!

I take it youve had some run-ins with the police?
Yes several times. Most memorable was in Beverly Hills, California. I started taking a picture in front of the central police station in Beverly Hills. Just after we started to prepare for the next one a few meters away. Thats when four police cars came out of nowhere! Flashing lights, doors that open in a flash and eight policemen come out, pistols in hand. Intense. I thought this time I was good for the job. They separated us and asked us what we were doing. So I spontaneously told the four policemen around me who I was and what I was doing, leaving aside the “naked” part. Then one of them asked me if the model had anything under her coat. I smiled and replied nothing. After identification and a lot of questions, they took the handcuffs off us and said, “If we get another call about you, you go to jail.” Apparently they werent working very closely with the policeman who arrested me the next day!

A neurosis?
The irregularity and variability of the horizon lines of my images. I continually adjust them from bottom to top, top to bottom...



- Find the following Gary Breckheimer in Normal Magazine n°6-