This image is taken from Michel Setboun’s third book about agencies. Eighty reporters were chosen to comment on one iconic image taken during their careers. The image we’re publishing today is a picture by Yann Arthus Bertrand. Every week we’ll be publishing an image from the book along with its accompanying text.
“I’m crazy about animals and nature. When I was 30, I wanted to become a scientist and get a PhD. My supervisor allowed me to base my work on photography. With my wife, Anne, I went to Kenya to study the behavior of a family of lions. For three years, we followed them daily. To earn a living in addition to being a photographer, I started piloting hot-air balloons, where I discovered aerial photography. It was a whole new way to see. With tourists I would fly over the same area I scanned every day from my car. Everything I know about photography today I owe to the lions. They taught me patience and showed me what beauty was. Thanks to them, I began to grasp “the decisive moment.”
Through observing these animals, I realized that photographs has its own codes and style different from writing. Field reporting is my school. At the time, I was using Kodachrome. There was no automatic focus and we struggled to work with our film which was less sensitive than 64 ASA. I saw the film six months to a year after I shot it. I liked this delay. During rainy seasons, I returned to France and we develop and sort our film. Upon my return, I was quickly published. This photo, taken in 1978, appeared on the last page of LIFE magazine. At the time, I was part of a group of very independent photographers in the Geo style like Pascal Maitre, Philip Plisson and Sebastião Salgado. These lions and old-style photography have left a deep mark on my professional life.”
Interview by Maxime Vatteble
