There is a particular intimacy in a session. For a few hours, two people who sometimes did not know each other at all lower their defences and entrust themselves to one another. I ask someone to show themselves as they really are, and that person hands me something of themselves. It is a silent pact, and when it is authentic it leaves a mark on both. From there is born what everyday life, with its hurry, almost never allows: the time to truly see each other, without masks.
These are encounters that without photography would never have come. People of ages, stories and worlds far from mine, whom the camera placed on my path and whom I would otherwise never have met. Some have remained friends, others confidants, others still luminous memories I return to with gratitude. But all of them changed me a little, and all of them keep a part of me, as I keep a part of them.
They are healthy bonds, beautiful to live. There is no possession, no performance: there is respect, gratitude, and that tenderness that remains when you have shared a moment of truth with someone. Those who have let themselves be portrayed know it, and at times have wanted to tell it in their own words: you leave that encounter a little lighter, a little more seen, a little more yourself.
This, in the end, is the deepest meaning of my work. The photographs are the visible trace, but what truly matters cannot be seen: the soul that showed itself, the trust that was given, and the love, because love is what it is, in its purest and most disinterested form, that binds the one who looks and the one who is looked at. I keep photographing for this: to build bridges between people, and to remind myself that we are made to be seen, and to see.
Behind every face in my portfolio there is one of these stories. If you too wish to live an encounter like this, you know where to find me.
