Flore Zoé's story begins with a Nikon camera lying dead still on a coffee table. There is something about the matte-black hulk that irrepressibly attracts her. She is only eight, but she apparently already knows how to turn it on. For the first time, she can look through the viewfinder herself. "Wow," she says with genuine amazement in her voice, as if reliving the magical moment. "A world opened up to me when I looked through that visor."

Flore Zoé in action.

Although her violent father makes everything difficult, she gets to work with it. "That camera was my foothold," she says. "I will spare you the pain and misery of a derailed family, but that camera allowed me to create my own beautiful dream worlds. I immediately felt it was my thing." Yet she hesitated on the brink of adulthood because she also drew a lot.

'Sexual Healing' series (2012).

"I considered going to art school, but my father thought that was too vague. He persuaded me to go to photography school. 'At least then you'll learn a profession that you can earn a living with,' was his argument. Was he right? Hard to say. I don't have great memories of the four-year course in Amsterdam, but I did learn to think professionally there. That you get a lot further with an agent or a manager. That there is a hefty price tag attached to professional equipment and a well-equipped studio, to professional models and a convincing presentation of your work. In short, I was pretty well prepared for a career as a photographer. Don't think it was easy. For years, I had to survive on three side jobs. Much more than dry bread and water was out of the question."

Studio

She sits with inquisitive, bright blue eyes, but gradually more relaxed at the table in Studio van 't Wout. Her exquisitely executed photographs hang almost carelessly above the design furniture. As if silently probing each other's aesthetics, a nude model by Flore Zoé sits opposite a glass table by Noguchi. "It's not even that common to have art hanging on the wall," says an employee of the shop. "We actually only do it if we know someone well and appreciate the work."

Series 'Spirit' (2008).

"I wanted to meet here because I quit my own studio a year ago," says Flore Zoé. "That was a very difficult decision. Because I had a lovely space in BINK36 and I had a great time there for 12 years, with all kinds of inspiring people around me - but I had to take a time-out. My body said: STOP! Otherwise I'll quit... I just didn't know why I was still photographing. Was I doing it for the money? To keep the gallery happy? For the great places they were selling my work? My photos hung at Opera Gallery with branches in 14 world cities, from Seoul to New York, London to Hong Kong. My track record is quite impressive and yet... Only when they offer me an exhibition at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art in New York) do I dare to believe that I am good enough."

'Porcelain' series (2006).

"Yes, I'm going way too fast again, please slow me down. My relationship with Opera Gallery began in 2012 when my assistant walked into a branch of the gallery on holiday in Singapore and showed a show folder of my work. The local manager immediately contacted Gilles Dyan, who summoned me to France within three days. So I went there with kneeling knees. Gilles went through my portfolio in twenty minutes and selected fourteen photos almost without explanation. I had to deliver them at least 1.40 metres wide as Fine Art prints, seamlessly fused in the most modern presentation form. Do you know how expensive that was going to be?"

Thirty thousand euros

She takes a deep breath. "Thirty thousand euros! At a time like that, you need a manager who resolutely says, 'Do it! I'll arrange the pennies.' Well, then I just jumped into the deep end. I well remember going back to Paris and walking into the gallery. One of my pictures was hanging opposite a Picasso, next to a Dali. I couldn't help it, tears streamed down my cheeks."

From the 'Reflections of History' series (2013).

"But it is wonderful to start 'from scratch' again. Yes, I am already working on another series." She shows a picture of a bare interior that is full of water. Or is it a sea that has hard boundaries and stops just like that, at the edge of the world? A naked woman has walked into the water up to her waist. Fluorescent beams overhead suggest an uncertain future. The composition perfectly suits the uncertainty of a new beginning.

Her real name is Flore Zoé. "Yes," she nods, "those are my two first names. Good, isn't it? I can go anywhere with those and I'm still grateful to my parents for that." What your name is and what you look like certainly helps, but Flore Zoé's biggest asset is her unstoppable enthusiasm. "I will not be held back," she says, "I am fearless. That's also the title of my latest project: 'Dauntless'."

Series 'Eyes for your hands' (2022).

Indeed, they are not small businesses. "When I get an idea, I start drawing and writing. A story has to emerge with situations and characters. Only then do I start looking for a location, a special place like Zwembad De Mauritskade. The oldest indoor swimming pool in the Netherlands from 1883, which had just been demolished and rebuilt in the old style. Lots of Hagenaars have profound memories of it. I wanted to show how present, past and future come together in one place. But you are not there yet with the location. To create the perfect image, you also have to cast the models, decide on the costumes, arrange the lighting and don't forget the make-up artist."

In Studio Van 't Wout hangs a small but versatile survey. Some photographs are large-scale, others modest as 'artist proof' of what might be of interest to collectors. "Small ones are just as dear to me," she says. "I have had prestigious commissions and worked with well-known designers like Marcel Wanders, but I want to tell my own story." Walking around, sitting down here and there and talking on about her photos, one gets a better and better idea of who Flore Zoé is. She is working on a dreamy biography in the making. In each photograph, she has put a facet of herself.

Flore Zoé (Delft, 1975) lives in Scheveningen. She shares life with a husband and two sons aged 10 and 14. More information: florezoe.com