Archives – May 14, 20213
Paris Match has lost one of its finest photographers. He had that rare quality of knowing how to do everything: war, magazine work, politics, and even celebrity stories. All these subjects he photographed in a reportage style. No flash, very little posing; he liked to circle around his subject and capture that 1/100th of a second that, above all, would convey information. His eye and his acute sense of framing did the rest, but Benoît’s main quality was curiosity. He was always alert, he spent his time looking for an idea, he read all the newspapers, spent hours on the Internet traveling the world on the web in search of an idea for Match, and he found hundreds during those 35 years spent at Paris Match.
Another of Benoît’s qualities was his simplicity. He was the very opposite of a big ego; he did not like people talking about him, he preferred to talk about others. The world of photography was his passion.
He had a vast photographic culture; he knew everything about the great photographers, their books, their exhibitions, the publication of their reportages. Benoît liked to write, and he wrote very well.
In his book “La photo en première ligne,” his most beautiful photographs are accompanied by a magnificent text written by him, in which we discover a Benoît of great sensitivity. With words as much as with his photographs, he recounts all the emotions he experienced in all the conflicts he crossed during his 35 years of reportage. We will miss Benoît terribly. But there is one thing I am already looking forward to. When Benoît went on assignment, alongside his subject he would shoot five or six rolls of black-and-white film that he had developed separately and kept for himself. These were his personal artistic side projects, and I cannot wait to discover these hidden treasures.
Benoît, the photo department you trusted simply says goodbye, because we will continue to take care of your wonderful photographs, which helped make Paris Match great, the magazine you loved so much.
Marc Brincourt
Photo Editor-in-Chief
