A few years ago, while leafing through a magazine, I came across a full-page photo of a woman advertising cosmetics. I cut the page at an angle and took a photo of myself with the cut-out in front of my face. I have to admit that the result wasn’t exactly top-notch, but I could see straight away that there was plenty to do. I came up with the idea of a series of offbeat portraits and over time my technique evolved.

For his portraits with cut-outs, the photo is taken all at once, during the session. So there’s no Photoshop editing to match the eye or any other part of the face. First I take a photo of the person who will be on the cut-out and I print it out. Then I have to work out how to position the cut-out. (Which part to choose so that the result is interesting).

Then comes the trickiest part: the person posing sits down and has to hold the cut-out in front of their face, following my instructions. The light settings are made and my camera is on a tripod, connected to my computer by USB cable, using a programme to guide the model precisely. The slightest detail is important, a wrong tilt or rotation of the model and the photo has to be redone: the two faces have to become one. It takes some time, depending on the model’s patience, but in principle the result delights both protagonists. So if you too are tempted to do a portrait of a different kind, don’t hesitate to contact me.

I’ve only posted the latest portraits on my new site, as I didn’t want to display the previous portraits I’d taken of various artists and characters on the web. If you want to see my previous work, a small sample can be found HERE.