Then I began working on a project about animals, that was originally to be called "the Garden of Eden", but came eventually to be exhibited and published as "Bestiarium". Animals (and particularly the more exotic ones) seem to play an important role in my unconscious: I often meet them in my dreams and I can spend hours, in real life, watching them in the zoo. During one such visit, as I was shooting specimens to place in the streets of Paris, I realized that what the "eyes of my mind" were seeing, was very different from what was registered on the film: my mind would concentrate on the animals, and disregard such "accidents" as iron bars, concrete floors and peanut-throwing children. "If the purpose of creative photography" I thought "is to come close to the vision of the mind, then I might as well use the computer to free that lion from those bars - which after all are but an "accident" - and bring him into some landscape that suits him."

To be honest, I can think of some objections to this thesis (and I've heard such objections from several people, particularly from my teacher and friend Henri Cartier-Bresson). On the other hand, the images of my "Bestiarium" seemed to work , in the sense that I enjoyed making them, that they were meaningful to some viewers, and that I still feel some pride in showing them.

In answer to some "frequently asked questions", I have to add that each image is composed of several elements, shot at different moments (but always by myself). All the animals were photographed in zoos of Europe and the US. Some of the landscapes are from my older files, others were photographed to become part of these images. I worked on the project for more than two years, practically every day and part of the night, and I couldn't have completed it without the constant assistance of my wife Véronique (though presently, with more experience and more powerful computers, we could do it in less time).