Olivier:  Well that was an idea that I had for some time in mind. I was waiting to be able to get the old real staff from that period as all the body part used by the gladiators. 

We asked as well S&M shops to get some more staff and the rest is pure jewellery.  And for the models I had Chad´s agency on the phone and ask me if I was ok to make some images of him because the girl that work in his French agency really liked my work and she is very nice lady, so with some effort on both side we finally found a date for me to be able to do the two guys I wanted for these photos . Like I said it’s just a matter of patience to get the right models .

Edward:   Tell us about yourself, heritage and hometown.

Olivier:  I am a 36 year old photographer and I come from the very close sub of Paris and I´ve been living in Paris since I was15 .

Edward:  How did you become interested in a career as a photographer? How do you define your style?

Olivier:  I have worked as a scuba diving teacher for five years around the globe and as I was taking a lot of images from the places where I was living it came to me that, here is a job that I would like to do and here we go .. I don’t really define my style I think it’s more the people that look at my global work that can define a style of what I do .

Edward:  IMAGE worth more than a THOUSAND WORDS?

Olivier:  Images for me don’t need too many words, they make emotions come out and when they do it’s because they are good .

Edward:  What is ‘fashion’ for you?

Olivier:  For me fashion is a great way to be able to express some of the things and fantasy that you have in mind , and that´s why it’s very important to work with the right team.

What is IN now for me is the way you can interpret images now with all the techniques that we have ; and what is out is that too many photographers do exactly the same king of images to reach a biggest amount of people instead of doing what they really believe in !

Edward:  And what do you look most when selecting models to shoot? 

Olivier:  For me the right model is the one that is going to  feel exactly in the story that I am doing , so I have no special kind of model , and I can work with many different kind of face.

I do not really like baby boys, I like when the boys and the girls look like adults and not like teen.  When I see a boy or girl in a casting is generally the day I am going to like them or not.  So if you party too much the day before or are impatient or arrogant in the casting day , it’s a bad start .. My favourite models are the ones that are nice , friendly , very well built, well educated  that I can meet almost every day . And I really want to say to all of them a big BRAVO because I know how difficult that job is.

Edward:  There must be special moments when you feel that you have captured a perfect picture... Share this passion with us. How does this special moment happen?

Olivier:  ell, when I work I am so concentrated into what I do that I can get almost mad when the photo is coming  and it is as you say a very special moment when you finally got the one you wanted, for me it’s when I can finally get the exact thing I had in mind on paper .. and it’s a very nice moment.

Edward:  Are you an optimistic person?

Olivier:  I find myself very lucky to be French and to be able to live in a country where you still can have a future that you more or less decided .  And you can live your life in a normal way what ever is your sexual orientation, color, religions.

It´s all came up to me when I was living in other countries where you can see that not everybody has the chance from the beginning to be able to live the way they want .. Look out now for the women, the children, gay people , how hard it can be if you are from a wrong place, and sometimes your life itself can be in danger and that is for me a real shame.  We should pay more attention to others and to the planet we are living on!!

Edward:  Olivier, thanks so much for sharing your story with us. Final thoughts

Olivier:  For the aspiring models, just know that you are in a career that is very nice but that it is not fun every day and that it has been getting harder, but if it is what you really want to do, just go for it. Always be nice with everybody from the client to the person that serve you drinks and do not ever catch a big head .. it is a small world and things travels very fast .

A 'no' one day is not the 'no' that you will have the next day .

I am working at the moment on a exhibitions that will be in 2008 and I have few new photoshoot and stories that are in prep . Visit web site http://olivierrieu.com