Last year we introduced you to the work of Jean-Marc, a French photographer specialized in ‘emotionally contrasted’ males. He just published a new tome titled whenIsee men selection. We wanted to know more.

When did you start photographing boys?
I always felt the need to fixate on paper whatever inspired me in order to preserve it, to keep it intact. The first encounter with Gérald was the trigger. I had just begun photographing the area, he was 19 at the time. I met him in the street and he immediately inspired me. I hesitated at first, but I finally offered to photograph him and he accepted.

Are you a self-taught photographer or did you receive formal training?
Self-taught completely. I remember that I got 3 or 4 essentials from a lab technician when I bought my first roll of film. My emotions guided me for the rest, lighting and all.

What’s the most important quality a photographer needs to have?
Honesty and sincerity. A photographer needs to be honest with his models and his work, shoot without ulterior motives, financial or else, and keep in mind that the goal is to sublimate the model. You need to work with your guts, your feelings, without forcing you to do it because it’s your job. You need to develop your own style of course, and your photographic know-how. But I think this is secondary, technical matters should never come first, they’re just a mean. A sincere photographer will always deliver photos that are both obviously true and personal — that’s why they’ll get noticed and seduce people.

Which photographers influenced you most?
I tried to avoid the influence of other photographers in order to protect my own style and authenticity. I do like the work of some however, like François Rousseau, Justin Monroe, Adam Raphael or Rick Day, and on a separate level Robert Mapplethorpe that I consider to be the reference.

Film or digital?
Even though I sometimes shoot digitals, film will always be my favorite — not out of snobbery, affectation or nostalgia, but because you can do things with film that you just cannot emulate digitally, like grain. And there’s also the pleasure of using the mechanical object, loading film, winding it manually, this impression you get that you and the camera are one. Finally, there’s the fact that it’s you taking the picture, not a processor or a digital assistant.

What about digital retouching?
I’m really not into that, mostly because I want to stay absolutely true to the image that I captured, and to the moment when I did it, with whatever good and bad things come with it. I don’t crop either. The only elements that I may digitally retouch are the specks and lines on the scanned image, but I never alter the colors or the model. There are basically no defects to correct, they’re all part of what makes the model look beautiful. Moreover, my approach is really to capture the moment — retouching would defeat that. In the end, it adds constraints to the shooting, but I like those constraints — they make me better!

How do you know that a photo is really good?
It’s an intuition. You can never be certain. However, if right before I trigger the shutter I don’t feel like I’m taking a picture anymore but more like infused with sensuality, emotion, beauty, and if I forget about the world outside and the context, then I know that it’s going to be a great one. I’m not taking a picture, actually. I’m living it.

What can you tell us about Kriss [above]?
Oh he’s a character, full of energy. With photographers, he’s the all-or-nothing type. It just works, or it doesn’t and it shows immediately. He can’t fake it, that’s what I liked about him, on top of his physique.

Next week, Jean-Marc will tell us where he finds his models, and how he helps them feeling good about posing in the nude. whenIsee men selection is available through Les Mots à la Bouche bookstore in Paris, or online at Adventice or Fnac.

whenIsee
Purchase whenIsee men selection from Adventice
Purchase whenIsee men selection from Fnac