While his portraits of Serge Gainsbourg are currently exhibited in Paris 25 years after the death of the famous songwriter, Gérard Schachmes talks to us about his own work and selected for us a few of his portraits made between the 1980s and 2008.
For over 40 years, I’ve photographed stars and celebrities for magazines all over the world. I was lucky to follow certain people over the years: Brigitte Bardot, Céline Dion, Philippe Noiret… I like it when they forget me. I followed Céline Dion for one year during a world tour.
I always considered myself a portraitist. I also like the studio as it involves creating a direct relation with the person whom I photograph. There is no decor, nothing on which to rest. It’s the exchange between the model and the photographer which emerges from the photographs. Each session is unique.
