How did it feel, to move from France to the US? Do you have any lasting impressions of being here for the first time?

I first came to Washington, DC, where they were shooting the exteriors for the film. Then to Los Angeles where they were going to spend a few months shooting the interiors of the Washington Post newsroom on a sound stage. I was meant to be in Los Angeles for only a week, but ended up staying three months. I started to meet everyone in a very natural way. I met many of the mid-’70s filmmakers and actors that at that time were just on the cusp: Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Groucho Marx, Roman Polanski, and many others. Initially I was doing all this without any real purpose, just instinctively, and kind of self-assigned, though I was sending everything back to Elle magazine of course.

But as the years went by, I became more and more focused on my work and it became evident to me that I had a real vocation. I have always lived day to day, so I never really planned or scrutinized what I was doing too much, nor paused to think about the “big picture,” but it turned out that I was truly lucky to have chosen to be a photographer so early on, not knowing that it would be my entire life. Now here I am, having done that almost to the exclusion of everything else in my life. I chose not to have a family. In fact, the more I go on the more I become singularly focused on my work, on photography. It’s almost surprising when I’m forced, like right now, to think and talk about how I ended up doing what I do because it was never planned or extremely thought through, it was all just very instinctive. But I realize how fortunate I am to have found something that I love and that, in a way, loves me back.

Was your family always supportive of your choices?

Yes. I’m sure my parents were concerned for me much more than they wanted to show, but they never pressured me to do something else, or be anyone other than who I was. This gave me an incredible sense of security in pursuing photography, and moving to New York. I was just confident I could make it work. I am grateful that my father saw me succeed in the life dream he was not able to pursue for himself. My parents never questioned my personal life choices, not getting married or having a family, even though I imagine that they might have preferred it. Though I realize I do not have everything in my life, I think I made the choices that were right for me, that I was capable of, so I have no regrets.