The Dieux du Stade Calendar was a dream project for me. I bought my first calendar in 2004 and I was so drawn to the photography. The athletes looked so strong, so powerful, but there was something so delicate about them. It reminded me very much of all the Ancient Greek statues I grew up seeing in museums. I can almost say that it inspired me to become a photographer myself and shooting for the Calendar was a dream of mine.

In June 2016 this very big dream became reality when I got commissioned to shoot the 2017 Calendar. My inspiration for that was the Classical Greek art heritage of my childhood. During preparation I was showing the athletes images of statues, reliefs and murals and discussing with them the beauty and power of the human body.

I wanted to shoot this in classic black and white photography, very true to the style of the Calendar itself and the photographs that had inspired me.

You can find a copy at: http://dieuxdustade.com/2017-calendrier.html