Photographer Sébastien Valiela publishes "(Without) filter", a book of photographs.

Guest of "Media Culture", the one who is also nicknamed "the paparazzi with 300 scoops" tells behind the scenes of one of his most famous photos: that of François Hollande, scooter helmet on his head, leaving Julie Gayet .

INTERVIEW

January 10, 2014.

Closer

magazine 

reveals the romantic relationship between President François Hollande and producer and actress Julie Gayet, thanks to photos by photographer Sébastien Valiela.

The "paparazzi with 300 scoops" tells in 

Culture Médias

how, at the end of a year of investigation, he succeeded in thwarting the protection of the services of the presidential security. 

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According to Sébastien Valiela, he first benefited from the fact that François Hollande's security service was lightened.

"I think François Hollande did not have too much confidence and that he only wanted to have with him a few officers in whom he could really believe", estimates the photographer.

"But it was a mistake on his part."

The Bristol accomplice in spite of himself

The paparazzi was also cunning, spotting that the Bristol luxury hotel parked its cars, all of the same model, at the corner of a street very close to Julie Gayet's home.

"We rented exactly the same vehicle, which we parked in front of the others to have a view of the street where Julie Gayet lived," he explains.

"We had made exactly the same 'Bristol' sign as the other vehicles, which we laminated and put on the dashboard. We went quite unnoticed."

On the day of the photo that became famous, François Hollande was only accompanied by two bodyguards.

"Which is very, very light when you know the security of a president", analyzes Sébastien Valiela.

"This allowed us two-three photographers to get into different axes. We could see everything that was happening."

The photos are then sold to

Closer

, with the consequences that we know.

It was also Sébastien Valiela, he was 20 at the time, who photographed President François Mitterrand for the first time with his daughter Mazarine Pingeot.

He is now one of the official photographers of the Macron couple.