Through these prints, Serge Picard reveals a selection of his commissioned portraits made in the fields of music, arts, cinema, entertainment or literature.

Named “Prises de têtes”, in the literal sense “taking heads” or, in other words, headache or hassle, this series lives up to its name. In the strict sense of the word because they are actual portraits. It is an appointment, more or less imposed, more or less accepted. The common goal is an image published in the national or international press. But because the conditions of shooting are not as simple as the images seem to let it appear. Indeed, the session lasts on average between 5 and 15 minutes depending on the case, the location is unknown to the photographer before the shooting and it is absolutely necessary to bring back a publishable image for the client.

The portrait requires the projection of an ideal, that of the photographer, on a reality: the face of the model, who accepts more or less to receive it and to wear it.

The hassle, also starts in front of the person that has to be photographed. It is a confrontation, friendly but intense, an attempt to interfere, a sort of game of what is said and what is not said, where the negotiation is done through the games of bodies, postures, glances. The challenge is to go beyond the visible identity, to find the hotspot of what each of the two participants – the subject of the photograph and the photographer – is willing to deliver, willing to give up… willing to offer.

At first glance, Serge Picard’s portraits are calm and posed in this strange form of timelessness that makes them mysterious, enigmatic. There is an absence of anecdote or unnecessary accessories: the poses are simple and the decor minimalist. But do not be fooled, it is the calm after the battle, where each one came out different with this slight visible tension showing us that we do not leave a photographic meeting as we came.