Different Breed: Eric Bouvet x X-Pro3

23.10.2019

Written by... Eric Bouvet

Eric Bouvet is a French photographer born in 1961. He began his carrier in 1981 after arts and applied graphic techniques studies at Estienne School of Paris.

His interest for photography seems to start when, aged of 8 years old, he saw on TV the first steps of man on the moon. The power of the direct information broadcast, the picture's strength of this historical moment seems to be the main factors for him to cover the evolution of the world over 120 different countries during the last thirty years.

Eric Bouvet worked as photographer for Gamma agency during the eighties. He works as free lance since 1990.

In 1985, he gains his international reputation with the covering of the Armero volcanic eruption in Colombia. After, he covered the main conflicts of the recent past in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Chechnya, Sudan, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Israel, North Ireland, Kurdistan, Angola, Suriname, Rwanda and Libya.

He covered also the main international moments as the ayatollah Khomeini's funeral, the Tiananmen Square Chinese protests, the fall of Berlin Wall, the Czech velvet revolution, the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and the Olympic games.

He worked also on many social subjects as the Russian jails, the young soldiers on aircraft carriers, the French police work in suburb, the last miners in France, the life in pediatric department for children suffering cancer.

The three last years, he is working on two long way documentary subjects named «Love» and «Peace».

His work has been published by the main international magazines as Time, Life, Newsweek, Paris-Match, Stern, the Sunday Times Magazine, the NYT Magazine, Der Spiegel, Le Monde.

He collaborated to photographic campaigns for the United Nations, many NGOs and charity organizations as « Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)", the International Committee of the Red Cross, "Médecins du Monde (MDM)" and "Action Contre la Faim (ACF)".

Along the way, Bouvet has received five World Press Awards, as well as two Visa d’Or Awards (Perpignan Photo Festival), the Gold medal for the 150th anniversary of Photography, the Bayeux-Calvados Award for War Correspondents, the Public award from Bayeux-Calvados, the Front Line Club award and the Paris-Match Award.

ON THE ROAD

Nothing was planned! Neither this X-Pro3 test!
Nor the move of my daughter to Berlin!

What was just planned was this three weeks on the roads around the country, France
So as usual, I adapted, found solutions, bounced back.
Result what is better to test a device than to put it in all forms of shooting conditions…
So start for a road trip and let us make different images, inspired from either reportage, or documentary photography or even author’s photography.

I like this opportunity to exercise the eye, to find images that are not necessarily coming from my knowledge in photography. I like to get out of my comfort zone and put myself in danger. That is the way to learn. Because the eye is not always present, the peak of creativity cannot be ordered and even less for weeks. It would be great and so much easier for us photographers.

To question oneself, always! Besides, this is my photography is, because the beautiful does not interest me! What is important is to bring out an emotion, a questioning. I never want to give answers. There is nothing worse than objectivity.

Sometimes emotion comes from the composition, the framing, the subjectivity, the light, the moment or the point of view! Of course, it is far from easy! This photography makes me suffer, because it is a constant search, an evolution to heights that I will never reach. However, when I work, I do not regret anything.
My favorite thing is people. Watching them walk, protest, move, staying between them for various reasons. It is a subject without end. It is certainly the most difficult exercise to photograph our contemporaries, to find an image where nothing happens, in ordinary situations where nobody could imagine taking a photo.

With the X-Pro3 creativity takes over…following by envy, fun, willing to try things. Whether it’s full moon night views, whether it’s trying to make everything fit in a reflection of a window, whether it’s a calm, contemplative image, whether it’s on a sports event to look for something different, whether it’s classic reporting, whether it’s that special moment after which this scene will no longer exist.

Everything goes there. Moreover, nothing tires me of using this X-Pro3 and my trilogy of lenses, XF23mm, XF35mm and XF50mm all with F2 max aperture. I just want to make pictures. I can see myself going around the world with this equipment because X-Pro3 is a kind of orchestra man; it has the assets to be multipurpose. As I like any kind of photography, it suits me perfectly!
I like to push the boundaries, whether psychological, or physical, as well as my material capacities. However, the Fujifilm cameras never flexes, they are much stronger than I am…The X-Pro3 is of this kind!