REBEKAH

i saw james gray's "two lovers" with a couple of friends last week at the UGC les halles in paris. i noticed rebekah a few minutes before we got in to watch the movie; i gave her my card -neither of us had much time so i just said i would like to photograph her. i met her around noon a few days later; we walked around the islands and on a couple of bridges. the light was great. thanks a lot rebekah, and good luck with your cinema.

MY BROTHER

I would give up all the macarons in the world for my brother, even the ones with truffe from Pierre Hermé. Tu es sur le blog, tu te prends une bonne montée la hein? hehe

PARIS, NOVEMBER

Today around noon it started snowing. Things that I (tend to) forget: the cold, the lack of light in the winter, the pigeons, some metro stations, how parisian apartments look and feel (in and out), the wooden ceilings, the way people dress, the size of things, the teas. Things I do not forget: the streets, the rooftops, the walking/running pace in the metro, the light, the bookstores, the food... my friends.

HALLOWEEN 08 IN SF

This is Halloween in the Castro. It was my second Halloween in San Francisco this year. Last year I did not know how big of a deal it was in this city; I was riding my bike home and ran into the craziness of it. I stopped and ended up spending two hours walking around, just watching. The endless creativity of people (and the work behind it, for just one night) always surprises me...

MY FAVORITE ANIMALS

I miss the water. It's something very important, but I think there is not much more to say. I miss the peace under the surface, I miss my silents friends around, I miss the sliding, I miss the instinctive following of the current, I miss the shades and the subtleties, I miss the physical understanding that we belong to something endless, and above all, I miss the joy in feeling how fragile and powerless we are, and just accepting, and letting go. Thanks for being with me on sunday. I know you miss it too...

MARK

Mark is one of these people that for unexplained reasons are very "easy" to photograph for me. It was both interesting and fun working with him, and made me forget that I was getting a little tired, that my right shoulder hurt (also for unexplained reasons), that I was not sure about...things. Several times during the afternoon I thought about calling ford to cancel, and I am very glad i did not. Thanks a lot mark for being generous, even though it wasn't always easy to deal with my silence.

PRESIDENT OBAMA / I WAS THERE

The first time i came to the US, I was 10. I went to Florida with my family. I saw the Everglades and Miami, and Disneyworld of course. I was desperate when we left; I wanted to stay forever... everything was bigger, crazier, more exciting, more intense. I thought I would never be able to explain it to my friends, back in France. I've been living here for 14 months now; back in Paris in the summer, I -again- felt that my experience here would be difficult to describe to my friends. As an adult this time -how hard it is, how violent sometimes, how intense, how free I've been feeling, also. And sometimes I forget it, sometimes I wish I was back home, sometimes I criticize too much; but my friends, french and american, I admit it: here, if you want something really bad, you can't help but think, and feel, that you can make it. Don't ask me why, I can't really explain it. but this is why i am staying. I'd be back in France if it wasn't for that persistent feeling of concrete hope. I felt it here in SF, and I felt it in NY. It was true before Obama was elected, and it is still true now -but maybe now, it is a little more obvious to the rest of the world. Cool night, last night.