The Beatles, cigarettes, Paris, March 1964

At the time, in 1964, I did not speak English very well and they made no effort to make it easier for me. The problem with a band is, if you are not in it, you’re really out there and they made me feel it with their cockney giggles. So I would engage in rather abstract conversations, understanding only half of their sentences. I answered randomly, hoping to be right. The situation was bordering on the absurd. That is why, wanting at all costs to make a strong impression, I had the idea of this photo. When they arrived at the studio, I gave each of them a cigarette and a lighter, and after having put them in a row, I asked my assistant to turn off the lights. " Gentlemen, light your cigarettes, please!" Once they had complied, click, click! Thank you, Kodak! Then I asked the assistant to turn it on again. "Thank you, gentlemen, goodbye!” It was a bold move because at the time, I had no way to know if there was something on the film... It surprised them a lot. I knew they wouldn’t forget me. It is probably thanks to this session that they will hire me, later, to be their official photographer during the year 1967. "