Emmanuel Gimeno is a contemporary artist and a photographer known for his work in fashion and fine art, which has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Depeche Mode, Spoon, Twill Magazine, among others.

In Part 1 of 3 of this Q&A, he tells Wonder Shuffle about why he chose photography and how he first got his start. 

Why photography?

I was actually into painting and drawing first. I went to art school with the plan to become a painter. But at some point, I started using photography as a tool. Then it hit me—photography let me capture a moment I loved and keep it forever. It was tangible in a way painting never quite was. I was in my twenties when I had that realization.

I'm the kind of person who thinks a lot, and I tend to reflect on moments—good moments that are gone but still stick with me. With photography, I realized I could hold onto those moments. I started thinking about the emotions tied to those moments—mostly moments when I felt really connected to someone. It was that feeling of desire, of something in the air when there's a spark. And photography, if you get the right light and the right timing, lets you capture that emotion in a frame.

I guess it comes from a deeper place too—a fear of abandonment, maybe. But those moments of connection, whether it’s with someone I like or even just feeling like someone sees me, are huge for me. Photography lets me freeze those feelings in time, which is something I find really special . It’s about capturing a fleeting moment of desire, trust, and connection, even if it’s just for a second. That one second will last for ever.

Over time, I started experimenting more with photography, adding titles or doing sequences or multiple exposures to capture that emotion more fully. Sometimes one shot couldn’t do it, so I’d combine them. I thought about moving into cinema, but I found the stillness of photography more compelling. A still photo becomes an object—it’s something you can hold, something solid. Films? They’re more transient.

So that’s why I kept pushing myself into photography, making it my therapy, my way to create, my way to capture visions.

My background?

As for my background, I grew up in Lorraine, in the northeast of France, near Luxembourg. It's not exactly a wine region—it’s more industrial. Close to Alsace, which is known for its wine, but Lorraine itself is a bit of a tough place. It has a history of war, with World War I having leveled the area. There’s a lot of history and a lot of factories, but not much tourism. It was a gritty place to grow up, and by the 80s, when all the factories started closing down, it became pretty tough economically.

I moved to Paris in my late teens after a stop at art school on the outskirts. I always knew I wanted something more than what I had there.

As for photography, it was in my last year of art school that I picked up the camera seriously. I was shooting a lot of pictures, just for myself. Then, one day, an art director from Paris showed up, looking for new photographers. He saw my work and offered me a gig shooting fashion catalogs. I had no idea what I was doing—no professional background at all—but somehow I got lucky, and my photos turned out well enough that he hired me for the next couple of years.

It was mostly shooting sweaters and clothing for catalogs, nothing groundbreaking, but it gave me my start. I was working on building my portfolio with the idea of shooting for galleries and magazines, like Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton. When I went to show my work to a magazine, they weren’t impressed at all. They thought it was too artsy and all over the place.

But then I met an agent who suggested I assist other photographers to learn the ropes. At first, I didn’t get it—why would I assist someone else when I wanted to be the photographer? But she explained that it would help me meet the right people and learn how the business worked. So, I started assisting. I reached out to big names, like William Klein and Steve Hiett. Steve took me on, and I worked with him on Vogue campaigns and traveled across Europe and to New York City.

Soon, other photographers started asking to borrow my assistance, until I met Françoise Huguier, big reporter type. Some of my gigs took me to Russia and Africa for reportage work, which totally changed my perspective. It was a huge shift from the fashion world I was used to—things got a lot more intense and even dangerous, I realized I didn’t want to risk my life in those kinds of situations.

So, I went back to Paris and kept assisting more photographers, and really honed my craft. It was incredible learning from the masters because it taught me how to impose a vision —how to recreate anything at any time, to stay in control of the process. Eventually, I started working on my own, using the connections I’d made to get work in magazines, and that’s how I got my career going.

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NEXT UP: SHOOTING FASHION

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Emmanuel Gimeno is a contemporary artist and a photographer known for his work in fashion and fine art, which has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Depeche Mode, Spoon, Twill Magazine, among others.

Explore more of his works at https://emmanuelgimeno.com.

IMAGES

Emmanuel Gimeno - All rights reserved

Lead-In Image

Twill Magazine, 2004 – The real colour of Bordeaux

Back of Card Images

1. Portrait

2. They didn’t want your heart, 2024

3. Harper’s Bazaar, 2000

4. You don’t own me, 2017