I start from my emotion in front of the subject. I am not in the traditional photographer's place, and this is the most interesting factor in my method. I do not use the classic situation any more, where the operator observes the model from behind his camera. Everything happens in pitch darkness, except for the light of the torch lamp, with which I dance, as it were, around the subject. The model is left on her own, shut up in solitude, and is not exposed any more to the violation of my gaze. Hence her absent, introspective look. The camera does not disturb her, because she in complete darkness. When you put someone nose to nose with the camera, they change. People within this darkness feel more comfortable.

The torch light projects a very feeble and concentrated beam, because I think a stronger light would be perceived as aggressive. As I work with the shutter locked open, the exposures are very long. For a portrait, that is a rather small frame, it takes an average of two or three minutes. For a whole body, anything up to ten minutes.

The result is always a surprise and a revelation. In some cases it does not work at all, but when it does, it is like magic.

I use a Polaroid film, which allows me to see the results at once, one negative, and one positive, 4x5 inches. This is really precious for me; as you can imagine with my technique, it is not possible to measure the light. You just play it by ear. So, with the positive, I can ensure the exposure is either right or wrong. Then I have this beautiful negative in terms of richness of grey and black and white. When I go to the darkroom, it's very easy to print the photograph in the traditional way.