I have many photographs from Waking Life. This selection is only from my first year working on this festival. What fascinated me during this first experience was that it didn’t feel like the focus of the event was the party - it felt like the focus was on the creation of an atmosphere conducive to the emergence of new connections between people. It felt to me that there was a certain level of craft and subtlety to the organisation of the event.

So I started to take seriously something that no one takes seriously. Attempting to make something subtle and artful, while photographing a party that was a little bit more than just a party.

It has now been two years since I’ve been playing with the idea, and I am thinking of building yet another long-term project surrounding festivals. Alternative lifestyles, escapism, idealism; this kind of gathering seems at the intersection of many ideas that interest me. It is also a lot of fun to work on.

Madame Loyal was the first festival I photographed - to me, just like the rest, it was at the beginning just training.  Festivals provide good training for photographing nightlife and adapting to different kinds of lighting situations. Especially when you practice in full manual mode and don’t use a flash.
It was also a good experience to meet and photograph artists I like, like Gaspard Augé, Myd and Breakbot.