This book was born from a simple gesture: going out into the night, looking, meeting. Photographing without knowing, without waiting, without planning. I photograph the night as a shifting space where strangers briefly become presences, appearing at the edge of parties, in suspended moments. These images were made in Paris over the past three years, moving through all kinds of spaces, from underground punk nights to the most mondaine evenings of fashion week, from sawdust-covered dance floors to the quiet elegance of art nouveau carpets. Beneath this work, a question remains.. A generation highly connected, yet increasingly distant from physical contact. Too many screens, too much flow, too many possibilities. Attention scattered, leaving less space for desire, for impulse, for encounter. This work does not document an absence. It looks for what persists. Those who still dare. Those who still go out. Those who still meet. Those who, in the night, continue to attempt something. A meeting, a glance, a kiss, a brief story or a longer one. All forms of love. Choose Love is not a manifesto. It is a belief that even in darkness, something still circulates between us. A raw light. Almost naive. Essential.
This book is a time capsule — we are part of it. We can see and almost hear scenes of joie de vivre as though they were unfolding before us. These images whisper the ideals of a generation — trivial, they are not. They are the marks of our brief existence in the chronicles of time.
Arthur Samier is a Paris-based fashion journalist and photographer, born in 2000. In 2023, he joined GQ France as a regular contributor to the style section, where he developed a distinctive visual language at the intersection of documentary and fine art photography, covering Paris Fashion Week for houses including Dior, Balenciaga, and Jean Paul Gaultier. Following this experience, he expanded his collaborations to various international publications such as Unprint Magazine, Sky Blue, and Like Fire. Currently represented by Galerie Jean-Marc Hervier La Suite.
Pierre A. M’PELÉ, aka PAM BOY, is a Paris-based writer, magazine editor, and consultant. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, he explores the intersection of fashion, media, and digital culture. He is the founder of SCRNSHT, an independent publication tracing contemporary life through its digital imprints.