World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine would like to welcome our amazing Editor in Chief Jean Marc Cresson.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine would like to start by congratulating Jean Marc Cresson on being recognized as the 2020 World Class Editor in Chief of the Year for his amazing work and contribution to World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine. This is an amazing professional achievement and recognition that will elevate his legacy and status and allow him a seat in the world of fashion history. If that wasn't amazing enough Jean Marc Cresson is about to make an even bigger splash and impact as the Editor in Chief of 1st issue of World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine which will be released in 2021. Let's get to know this legend. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Please tell us about yourself. Hello everyone, my name is Jean Marc Cresson. I live in Paris, I'm 51 years old this year, I have been a photographer since 1995. I was not destined to do this job. After University, it was my military service that brought me to photography. My experience has allowed me to evolve in fascinating areas of this profession, and allowed me to meet extraordinary people. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: This is a historic moment being part of 1st issue of World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine. What does it mean to you and how does it feel to make your dream come true of being editor in Chief of such a prestigious fashion magazine? This is something out of the ordinary! I would never have thought a few years ago, when I started taking fashion pictures, that one day I would be able to access this function. A huge thank you to Derek Tokarzewski for giving me this opportunity. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Tell us about the challenges while shooting during pandemic?
Challenge, it’s a very interesting word, I would rather have said obstacle course or training in the Guyanese jungle for the Foreign Legion. In fact, the pandemic lockdown and curfews did not have such a negative influence, they were moments that allowed us to reflect. If I was talking about foreign legion training in the Guyanese jungle, it means that in order to reach our objective, we had to overcome obstacles that were mainly due to the behavior of people, those who changed altitude constantly, those who slowed us down by putting shutters in our wheels out of jealousy and liars. Anyway, the experience was rather interesting because it allowed me to adapt and overcome the obstacles by constantly adapting to the different complex situations that were posed to me. It strengthens the mind, not the gastric system. One must give oneself the means of one’s ambition. With the right mind you always get there.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Each photoshoot is fun and unique but tell us which photoshoot was your favorite and why?
The best photo shoot was made with the designer Étoffes et silhouettes, Guenaelle Debarnot. I cannot thank her enough for her professionalism, her generosity. We did several shootings in Paris and thanks to his talent and his very effective interpersonal sense, we were able to spend two wonderful days shooting in Chantilly. She has been very helpful and supportive to me throughout this adventure. I would also like to thank Zaady and Xuan, who were also truly extraordinary and made a lot of effort to allow me to carry out our project. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Which photoshoot was most difficult and why?
It’s very simple, it’s all the shoot photos that we couldn’t do despite all the efforts we made with some creators. They did not act because they did not have a first copy to consult because they lacked confidence. They prefer the usual magazines where there is more advertising than background articles about the creators World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Greatness is rarely achieved alone. Tell us about your team and their contribution.
I’m lucky to have a great team. I must first thank Guenaelle Debarnot, with whom I started this project and with whom I am preparing future projects. She has helped me a lot with her professionalism, her knowledge of the fashion industry and her address book, she is also a consultant and a valuable collaborator. Then there are the four super makeup artists, Nathalie Mitrovic, Julie Aigret, Elsa Castro Alves and Sarah Mouhous, who are professionals of great talents, always available, in joy and good humor. They did a great job on our shooting and we continue to work together. Also participating were makeup students and hairdressers. I’m lucky to have a great team. Finally I would like to thank for their professionalism, their availability and their Kindness Antoine Le and Isadora Spacagna Co Founders and CEO or Make up Artists School Campus des Maquilleurs. They helped us to find modèles and Make up Artists team.We also had Steven Guyot, talented director of the magnificent videos for Étoffes et Silhouettes designer. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Great results require great models. Tell us what's unique about each model?
Each model is unique, unique in its physique, attitude, culture and education. Each of them has its own vision of the profession and each of them has a way of expressing its professionalism. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Tell us about each designer you had a chance to work with.
Of course, there are all the fashions week that I’ve been asked to cover, there are vivid memories, with incredible designers like Dior, Balenciaga, Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, Guo Peï, Antonio Grimaldi, Ziad Nakad, Julien Fournié and of course all those who participated in World Class Paris Haute Couture, including Xuan. Étoffes et Silhouettes, Zaadi, and others. All these designers bring me a new eye on fashion each time, and make me evolve in my work as a photographer. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Which photoshoot location was your favorite and why?
Of course, for me it is essential, it is Paris. Paris, city of lights, capital of fashion, love and glamour. I can’t count the places I love to take pictures. The Champs-Elysées, the Place de la Concorde, the Pont Alexandre III, the Place du Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower, the Marais where Saint Germain des prés, this city is magical and the places are magical to infinity and inspiration endless ! World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Tell us what type of photographer are you or what type of jobs do you focus on? I am mainly focused on fashion, haute couture and ready-to-wear, and everything that attracts luxury but I am not locked in this field, it is necessary to open up to other photographic genres. I'm a photographer who works outside the studio, my point of view is that it's very tonic. I appreciate shooting in places that have a history, and Paris is amazing for that. These places are always a good guiding thread for the enhancement of my artistic line. This is very true in the field of haute couture and fashion. However, I also like working in the studio, in a more subdued atmosphere, more user-friendly and conducive to exchanges. My work focuses on fashion, haute couture and ready-to-wear, and jewelry. I also work in everything that is institutional, political sport and army. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What made you decide to dive into the world of photography? Aside from the fact that it was my military service that was the trigger, I objectively believe that my influences go back further in my childhood when my father took me to the Louvre Museum. We spent whole afternoons studying the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and impressionist painters like Caravaggio. He wagered me to exercise my gaze on light, color and depth of field. Later he offered me my first camera and taught me to exercise my eye through a camera, I was 14 years old. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Are you schooled or self-taught? I didn’t go to photography school. I'm self-taught. I have worked with professional photographers, I have benefited from their experience, which has been excellent training for me. I have participated and validated training courses in post-production. I continue to train myself constantly because hardware and software are changing rapidly, which means always seeking excellence. It’s a constant challenge. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What was your first biggest break? My first professional experience was in motor sport, during the 24 hours of Le Mans auto. A wonderful memory. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Let's talk about your early days, what helped you climb to where you are? World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: How would you describe your style of shooting? It is often said that a photographer’s style is the visual rendering of his photos in accordance with what he likes to read, listen, feel and see. Sometimes I am asked to remain academic in my work, but it is to respect a specification, but I am looking especially for what is out of the ordinary. I focus my work on different planes, I search for novelty, and in the field of fashion, I search for precision, I work with boxes like the Nikon D850, which has a very powerful sensor that allows me to play with light and depth of field and highlight the precision work of the creators on their dresses. The static photo is good, but I love the action photos, often through a movement I find the photo that suits me, for example during the parades, I see through the movements of the models, like movements of the dancers of the opera, where I find in a situation, a scene that I have already seen on a painting, or a sculpture. I think that old art as well as new art influence my work. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: How has your style evolved since you started shooting? Over the course of my career, I have of course been receptive to many influences, and I think that my interest in everything related to the artistic field, painting, sculpture, music and dance have found a positive response in my work. Today, I see in my photos everything I’ve been able to discover during these 25 years of jobs, and I know very well that the lines will still move in the coming years, and that’s what attracts me a lot. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Do you have any photography mentors? Of course, my photography mentors are Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Peter Lindbergh Patrick Demarchelier and William Klein. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Let's talk about gear, what do you currently shoot with and what type of job your gear applies to? I have two types of materials, they each have their function: The first for sport and fashion is a Canon 1D mark III with a 20-70 lens and a 300-800 sigma lens which I am very satisfied with. The rest is Nikon for everything else, sports and fashion too, I love Nikon. The D850 D5 and soon a D6 with a 14-24 2.8 ED, a 70-200 2.8 and a 50-500 Sigma that I like so much. I kept a D3x that still fulfills its job very well and a big lens 200-500 Sigma. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Besides body and lens what are your other essentials in your bag? A water bottle, small tools, a compressed air bomb with the usual cleaning cloths, sometimes my laptop World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What is your favorite lens and why? This is always surprising, but I love the Sigma 50-500 and Nikon 70-200, it has an extraordinary dive and it is very bright. It allows at the same time to take photos of meadow, from far and to be near remaining far. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What's more important, skill or gear and why? We can have the best equipment possible, if we don’t have the skill, we’ll never get anything good ! World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Let's talk about post processing, what is your process? Usually, I load my photos into my computer, to see if the white balance is ok. Eventually, I use Lightroom for cropping or Photoshop if necessary, but the least possible is better. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What makes you unique as a photographer? My own way of approaching people, my attitude in general, my outfit, and my way of working is unlike any other in my colleagues. I always make sure that I always have very good relationships in the business and with people, relationships, communication, that’s important. On the other hand, I think that I did not let myself be locked into a specific genre, I love variety and novelty. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What advice would you give to the next generation of photographers on getting where you are? What I will advise future generations of photographers is to be curious, patient, opinionated, observant, to keep an eye constantly sharp and not be afraid to adapt and not be afraid of difficulty because it is the best training school and also and know how to remain discreet. A secret is the best value. If you want to become a leader you need to maintain your skills. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What celebrities have you worked with so far? Most of the time it is at the Cannes Film Festival or in Deauville, celebrities from the world of music or cinema, especially Americans with whom I have my most beautiful memories. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Any fashion experience? Yes of course, I cover the Paris Fashion Week haute couture and the ready-to-wear and that of New York also when my schedule allows it! World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What are some of your achievements as a photographer that you are proud of ? - A catalogue for a jeweller in 2016 - Photographic collaboration with two designer as house photographer, abroad - A communication campaign for a city near Versailles, with the publication of a book of my photos .
- 15 years of thé french Presidentia Campaign. - 20 years of reporting on American veterans returning to Normandy 1997-2017 World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What is your best quality as a photographer?
I'm patient and stubborn. World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What is your favorite pageant you shot so far and why, tell us a story?
My favorite pageant is the holiday on ice, I was able to cover it thanks to a friend who was the lead singer.
Anyway, I never had the opportunity to photograph a beauty pageant.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Any amazing photography stories you would like to share with us?
I was accredited by The White House Press Pool, it was the 70th anniversary of the landing in Normandy, at the American cemetery in Omaha Beach. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, sat to the left of French President François Hollande. I was placed in the same gallery as the White House delegation, a bit shifted to its left, and, with the other photographers, we could not get his eyes. I made the decision to put my flash on my box and program it in strobe mode, to get his attention. After five minutes they turned to us and gave us a light smile. I got my picture right , and my colleagues thanked me.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Most amazing places you shot at?
The places are very varied, I was able to take pictures on an aircraft carrier, aboard a helicopter, aboard an off-shore racing boat. There are also very diverse places like taking pictures in a cave, or in the same week, at the top of a mountain.
Doing underwater photography in front of a shark and ending up a few days later on a fashion week parade in Paris I sometimes wonder if it doesn’t take a little crazy to do this job, but it’s so exciting, you have to accept and love adventure because every day is very different.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: Tell us about some of the highs and lows of being a photographer for those who want to follow your footsteps.
As for the highs, we must mention the fact that we are independent, we can choose our style. It is a very rich profession in exchanges and meetings. The activities are varied and exciting. The lows, you have to sell and value your work constantly, the new technologies help us, the market is saturated especially by people who improvise photographers with their smartphones. And it is often difficult to get paid, this is very true in France.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What can we expect from you next?
Always ready, That’s my favorite expression! Always ready to go on an adventure, always ready to give the best of myself, always ready for new encounters, always ready for new challenges! Live the photo, but live it intensely!
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind?
In Heritage I would especially like my photographic work to be retained, because the photo is there to freeze for a moment in view of eternity, it is an indispensable visual memory.
I would be fully satisfied if all this work could survive after me and be profitable to those who will come after me.
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine: If someone would like to hire you, how can they do that?
I can be contacted mainly through my facebook account or mainly my instagram account: jean.marc.cresson
World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine would like to say thank you for this wonderful interview.
Interview by Derek Tokarzewski Owner of World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine.
Jean Marc Cresson, World Class Paris Haute Couture Magazine.
Owner: Derek Tokarzewski Mr United Nations 2018 Platform: Women Empowerment Ambassador to International Foundation for Orphans iffocares.org
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