Clockwise, from top left: Tangier (2008); Tangier (2008); Noirmoutier (2001); Paul Schmidt, Yaoundé (2002); August, Ibiza (2008); August, Ibiza (2008); Pondicherry (2007) All images © Henry Roy

Morning...
sunrise

Noon...
yummy!

Night...
lust and dreams

Perfect happiness...
traveling and shooting

Preposterous...
arrogance

Fear...
failure

Extravagance...
luxury

Comedy...
life

Work...
identity

Our time...
cupidity

The future...
who knows?

Most interesting thing in your wallet...
my passport

In another life, you'd be...
a jazzman

Your lucky charm...
none.

Words to live by...
probity, endurance, curiosity, simplicity

Prized possession...
none.

One wish...
that my mother land (Haiti) will be reborn from disaster.

A dream dinner party would be made up of who (dead or alive)?
Women: Angela Davis, Claire Denis, Gena Rowlands, Ariane Mnouchkine, Romy Schneider; Men: Dany Laferrière, Jim Harrison, Nelson Mandela, Jim Jarmush, Charles Bukowski


Romy Schneider © Studio Canal


Nelson Mandela released from prison (1990) © AP

Favorite shoes..
comfortable

Favorite store...
libraries

Favorite place...
facing the ocean


August, Ibiza (2008)

Favorite color...
I like brown

Favorite website...
Wolfgang Tillmans


Wolfgang Tillmans: Wako Book 3 (2004)

A favorite photo that you've taken...
I hope to shoot it tomorrow...

Favorite photo that someone else has taken...
So many masterpieces! Sorry, I can't choose only one.

Describe your creative process.
Long years of learning from experience and culture give me the ability to trust my instinct and intuitions.

What do you love most about photography?
The magic of the film’s chemical process. And, the fact that you have to be physically present to shoot. It makes you act, travel and meet people.

What is your inspiration?
Literature, cinema, music and everyday life.

What are you working on now?
Different photo series and texts for different magazines. I'm also working on finding a gallery that will help me realize some of my projects.





Can you talk about any future projects?
Going to Haiti to shoot, and to help. Also, to make a short film, and to publish another book dedicated to portrait photography.

You were born in Haiti, but moved to France at a young age, does the Haitian culture still influence your work?
Of course! My mother and father being Haitian, I've got the land and people under my skin.

How does the French culture influence your work?
I've been confronted almost all my life by the French environment, education and lifestyle. My cultural background is also mostly French. Even if my work could be considered mostly as « international », the way this culture influences me is obvious.

Have you been back to Haiti since the earthquake?
I haven't, but plan to go there as soon as I am sure that I can be useful.

Do you have any suggestions of how to help? Any personal affiliations to local organizations?
Give what you can, but give something: to any great humanitarian organization, or to people you know that will.

Your photographs have an incredible intimacy, do you know most of the people in your work?  If not, do you have a methodology for capturing this intimacy?
I have my own methodology, but I really care a lot about the people I photograph. Who ever they are. I would say that it is a very democratic process. Also I’m aware of the great responsibility it implies to represent someone in a picture. And when people feel that, they agree to unveil more of their intimacy, knowing I sincerely respect it.

I love the quality of light in your photographs, how do you think about light?
The search for the right light is almost a spiritual quest for me. I like the idea of depending on natural light. As I avoid using artificial lights, the weather variations really affect my work. This approach makes my experience of light unpredictable. The light I photograph has a deep influence on my body and mind, and gives my subject its spirit.

I think my favorite collection is your work in Tangier, tell me about your time there.
I was on vacation for a few days with my wife and son. It was the beginning of spring, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing and we ate delicious food in this city full of the vestiges of prosperous times. I was thinking about Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Roland Barthes, Jean Genet, Joseph Kessel, William Burroughs, etc… so many great writers visited the crowded streets of Tangier. I spent quiet and intense moments walking between the hotel, beaches and the old city souk, trying to interpret my feelings.

HENRY ROY - PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM

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