My earliest memory of photography is a picture I took when I was six years old, during a holiday on the Greek island of Cos. It was an uneven shot of the harbour. It’s still in a box somewhere at my parents’ place.
My dad was a freelance sports journalist for a Swiss French TV station and was also on the staff of local newspapers. I would follow him on the weekends when he was covering events, often carrying the camera tripod for him.
I’m a self-taught photographer, and I learnt mainly by practicing or getting advice from colleagues. I’ve never been good at reading manuals or books.
I struggled for a very long time until I was happy with the pictures I was taking, mainly because I was very shy. With time, I learnt to be patient and to open up to other people.
When I was a freelancer for a Swiss photo agency, I had to cover poverty for a city council’s local newspaper. I was brought face to face with the reality of many people’s lives, which was all but hidden from view in this supposedly rich country.
If I weren’t a photographer, I would probably have worked in a bank or an insurance company, like a lot of Swiss people. I don’t think that would have lasted long though!
With the arrival of digital I have been able to experiment a bit more, but I think I still mainly focus on the moment.
I’ve learnt that the biggest subjects don’t always make the greatest pictures.
The purpose of news photography is to tell somebody a story. I try to give readers the chance to view something they couldn't otherwise access.
