À l’affût

You who speak of animals when others say gibe. Well, you take images the way a fisherman throws the fish he’s caught back into the water. You consider that you’ve pre-empted nature enough when it gives you a photo. Then you pack your bag and leave. Yet you’ve captured nothing but a moment. But it took you hours to reach that moment. I know what your answer will be: that you don’t count the hours. Let me just say that these hours count.

À l’affût is a book of confidences – and therefore of trust – that borders on a touching and profound reflection, benevolent and friendly, from Paul Hermant to Michel d’Oultremont, still a young photographer, but with a visionary eye. The word is dense, disturbing; the shots are striking and the whole upsets the too great comfort of our eyes and minds fed with “premade” images and thoughts.