Any photographer that says he is not a voyeur is either stupid or a liar" .. Helmut Newton. I do not think that he meant this in a pejorative sense, so much as with regards to the manner in which we perceive our surroundings. Photography is a way of personalizing the world in which we live and of giving it a perspective with which we can identify. The same is true of the people that we photograph. To photograph a woman will always remain for me both a challenge and an enigma. The most difficulty part I find is to capture the elusive part of her mystical charm that she will only reveal in small doses at a time, as if to preserve her most precious asset. I wonder sometimes if I don't look away during those brief moments of defiance when she truly reveals herself, or maybe deep down I do not really want to betray her and share with others that ultimate moment of trust and complicity. At any rate, the result is often like a jigsaw puzzle in which some pieces remain hidden and one never gets to see the whole picture. That is why this will always remain for me a story without an end. As some of you already know, my favourite subject is "the girl next door". A large number of these I did not know previously, and have asked them to pose for me after a brief encounter, sometimes in a café or elsewhere, other times after meeting them more formally through friends. More recently I have photographed some young models starting out in their career, helping them to build up their book, and I have also met with some more established professionals. However at this time, they remain a small number of my models, not more than around five per cent of my portfolio. In all these cases, I strive to record something personal and revealing of their character, and I follow them around with my camera for that purpose. In this sense, I am very much of a "backstage" portrait photographer.