Man tried to imitate God by drawing; then we invented the photo.

It's all the same. It's the same face. We always look for an idea, for the same face, for the same position. There is no such thing as a European or an African photography. It's all the same thing.

I wanted to be the photographer of happiness.

Man tried to imitate God by drawing; then we invented the photo.

People said if [I] was at a party, it gave it prestige. I would let people know I'd arrived by letting off my flash... You could feel the temperature rise right away.

Before I knew the camera, I knew about images. It's all about trying to make light with a pencil or with a crayon. It really helped me in the beginning, because I understood how light and shadow were working on an image.