Veronique de Viguerie: 20 years of covering life and conflict in Afghanistan (Interview in English)
In dieser Folge sprechen Pia Parolin und ich mit Véronique de Vigeurie, einer französischen Fotojournalistin, die seit 20 Jahren die Realitäten zwischen Alltag und Konflikt in Afghanistan dokumentiert.
31.12.2023 48 min
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
In dieser Folge sprechen Pia Parolin und ich mit Véronique de Vigeurie, einer französischen Fotojournalistin, die seit 20 Jahren die Realitäten zwischen Alltag und Konflikt in Afghanistan dokumentiert.
Einer meiner persönlichen Höhepunkte war auch in 2024 wieder das Fotofestival „La Gacilly - Baden Photo“ vor den Toren Wiens.
Bei den Medientagen von Europas größter Open-Air-Fotoausstellung hatte ich wieder die Gelegenheit, mit vielen herausragenden Fotojournalistinnen und Fotojournalisten zu sprechen.
Einige dieser Interviews sind bereits veröffentlicht - so das Gespräch mit der im Pariser Exil lebenden afghanischen Fotografin Fatimah Hossaini, dem Leiter der Fotojournalismus-Ausbildung an der renommierten Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus - Søren Pagter sowie Festivaldirektor Lois Lammerhuber.
Weitere Interviews mit führenden Köpfen des visuellen Storytellings folgen in den kommenden Wochen - darunter der achtfache World Press Photo"-Gewinner Brent Stirton, National Geographic"-Legende George Steinmetz und der Bruder des Magnum-Fotografen Abbas.
In dieser Folge ist die französische Fotojournalistin Véronique de Viguerie zu hören.
Obwohl sie schon über die ganze Welt berichtet hat, gibt es eine Konstante in ihrem bewegten Fotografenleben: Afghanistan.
Seit mehr als 20 Jahren berichtet sie regelmäßig aus diesem Land. Sie sagt, sie sei dort als Fotografin geboren worden.
Bei diesem Interview wurde ich von Pia Parolin unterstützt. Pia ist mittlerweile nicht nur Stammgast vor dem Mikrofon des Podcasts, sondern hat auch schon mehrfach Interviews an meiner Seite geführt. Ich finde, dass Pias Fragen und Gedanken eine große Bereicherung sind.
Einer meiner persönlichen Höhepunkte war auch in 2024 wieder das Fotofestival „La Gacilly - Baden Photo“ vor den Toren Wiens.
Bei den Medientagen von Europas größter Open-Air-Fotoausstellung hatte ich wieder die Gelegenheit, mit vielen herausragenden Fotojournalistinnen und Fotojournalisten zu sprechen.
Einige dieser Interviews sind bereits veröffentlicht - so das Gespräch mit der im Pariser Exil lebenden afghanischen Fotografin Fatimah Hossaini, dem Leiter der Fotojournalismus-Ausbildung an der renommierten Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus - Søren Pagter sowie Festivaldirektor Lois Lammerhuber.
Weitere Interviews mit führenden Köpfen des visuellen Storytellings folgen in den kommenden Wochen - darunter der achtfache World Press Photo"-Gewinner Brent Stirton, National Geographic"-Legende George Steinmetz und der Bruder des Magnum-Fotografen Abbas.
In dieser Folge ist die französische Fotojournalistin Véronique de Viguerie zu hören.
Obwohl sie schon über die ganze Welt berichtet hat, gibt es eine Konstante in ihrem bewegten Fotografenleben: Afghanistan.
Seit mehr als 20 Jahren berichtet sie regelmäßig aus diesem Land. Sie sagt, sie sei dort als Fotografin geboren worden.
Bei diesem Interview wurde ich von Pia Parolin unterstützt. Pia ist mittlerweile nicht nur Stammgast vor dem Mikrofon des Podcasts, sondern hat auch schon mehrfach Interviews an meiner Seite geführt. Ich finde, dass Pias Fragen und Gedanken eine große Bereicherung sind.
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Hast du Fragen, spannende Themen oder einfach Gedanken, die du schon immer mal loswerden wolltest? Dann schreib uns!
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Transkript
It was not an easy path because first I wanted
to be a soldier and then
I kind of decided that probably
the discipline of the army was not really for me but I really wanted to travel
the world and try to meet with different cultures and I had the soft spot for
photography so So it kind of seems a good way to do these two things together,
being a photojournalist.
Ja, das Jahr neigt sich seinem Ende. Wenn du diese Folge am Tag ihres Erscheinen
hörst, dann ist es der 31. Dezember 2023.
Und eines meiner persönlichen Highlights in diesem Jahr war auch wieder das
Fotofestival La Gassili Baden-Foto vor den Toren Wiens.
Bei den Medientagen von Europas größter Open-Air-Foto-Ausstellung gab es auch
einmal mehr. the opportunity to speak with many outstanding photojournalists.
Some of these interviews have already been published,
such as the conversation with the Afghan photographer Fatima Hossaini,
the head of the photojournalism training at the renowned Danish School of Media
and Journalism in Aarhus,
Søren Pagter, and festival director Lois Lammahuber.
Further interviews with top visual storytellers will follow in the coming weeks,
including the eight-time World Press Photo Award winner Brent Sturton,
National Geographic legend George Steinmetz and the brother of the magnum photographer Abbas.
In this episode you will hear the French photojournalist Véronique de Végéry.
Even though she has reported from all over the world, there is one constant
in her moving photographer life and that is Afghanistan. Since over 20 years,
she has been reporting regularly about this country.
She says herself that she was born there as a photographer.
In the festival catalogue of this year's edition of La Gacely Baden Photo,
which was under the motto Orient, it says about Veronique,
Die Karriere von Veronique de Viguerie begann mit dem 21.
Jahrhundert. 1999 reiste sie zum ersten Mal nach Afghanistan.
Sie war 21 Jahre alt und verfiel sofort dem Reiz dieses Landes.
Sie selbst sagt, Ich war sprachlos angesichts dessen, was mir dort begegnete.
Ich hatte den Eindruck, in der Zeit zurückgereist zu sein.
Die Männer trugen Turbane, die Frauen Burkas. She had originally planned to
stay for a few months and ultimately lived in Kabul for three years.
After this intense start, she has, as I said, returned to Afghanistan again
and again from her experiences in this conflict-prone country,
she reports in this interview.
In this interview I got reinforcement, namely from Pia Parolin.
Pia has not only become a guest in front of the microphone in the Gate 7 podcast,
but has also interviewed on my side several times.
Pia's questions and thoughts are, as I think, a great enrichment and I am happy
every time she sits next to me.
In short, Pia is also back at our Visual Storytelling Academy.
Thank you
very much.
Abenteuer-reportagefotografie.de Den klickbaren Link dazu findest du natürlich
auch nochmal in den Shownotes zu dieser Episode in deiner Post.
Ja, und so kurz vor dem Jahreswechsel möchte ich dir an dieser Stelle natürlich
ganz, ganz herzlich alles Gute für das kommende Jahr wünschen.
Natürlich vor allem Gesundheit und auch ein ganz, ganz großes Dankeschön,
dass du regelmäßig Gate 7 hörst.
So, und nun direkt hinein in das Interview mit Veronique de Viguerie. Viel Spaß!
Well, hello Veronique. Thank you very much for taking the time for this interview.
Thanks, Guy. I'm very happy to be here.
And we're with Pia as well, joining me in this interview. Thank you very much, Pia.
Well, thank you, Kai. And thank you, Veronique, for having me here with you.
I'm really fascinated by you. And so I'm happy to participate in this.
Veronique, we had the chance yesterday to have a look at your work displayed
here in the garden in a very, very beautiful setting on big panels,
your work from Afghanistan.
Before we talk about that let's get a little bit of background of you and how
you got started in photography and why afghanistan became such a central point
of interest in your photography,
yeah just plain and simple why did you choose to become a photographer.
Well um it was not an easy path because the first i wanted to be a soldier and
then i I kind of decided that probably the discipline of the army was not really for me.
But I really wanted to travel the world and try to meet with different cultures.
And I had a soft spot for photography, so it kind of seems, you know,
a good way to do these two things together, being a photojournalist.
And I started in England and my first day of school, of photography school,
was 11th of September 2001.
2001 so we spent our
first day uh on the well watching
the tv watching you know what was
happening there and all i
kind of guess you know my photographic
career was very much influenced by this
and afghanistan and during my
um i had a work experience to do in
a local newspaper in england and i
had the chance to go to afghanistan in 2003 so 20 years ago and i i had um you
know something which doesn't happen too much in our life like i had the certitude to be exactly.
Where i wanted to be and to do exactly what
i wanted to do you know i was like i
don't know fulfilled and from that
time i knew you know it was what i was going to
do for all my life and when
i finished my work experience so it was in 2004 it was kind of natural to try
to go to to afghanistan so i just borrowed some money from my grandmother take
all the savings i had and I just bought a one-way ticket to Kabul.
It's quite amazing that at the age of, what, were you 20 or something,
you think of becoming a soldier or a war photographer.
So I wanted to travel and I would have never thought of going into such a dangerous way of traveling.
What was your motivation behind this?
Well, there was a lot of luck also because maybe if I hadn't had the opportunity
to go kind of accompanied with my local newspaper who sent me there with the army,
I wouldn't have had the, I don't know, balls or courage to go there on my own.
So it was, you know, the will.
I think the will, I really wanted to go and see with my own eyes what is a conflict country.
So, you know, I always had this kind of fascination for all this oriental culture,
you know, and especially Afghanistan.
There is a kind of, you know, reading the Kessel books, this kind of fascination
about this culture, which is far from us, but I don't know, quite romantic in a way, if I can say.
So, yeah, it was a mixture of will, opportunity and really the chance given
to me to go there on my first, on the first time.
For many photographers it's a gentle transition
into conflict photography you don't
start like at the beginning of your career
going to a conflict zone in
your case it sounds like yeah that was
your first real big experience as a
photographer and then going to afghanistan and in that time 2003 or 2004 2003
but at this time it was not a conflict country anymore the war has just finished
there was a lot of hope in the atmosphere a lot of.
Energy a lot of,
Young people were coming to rebuild the country, to, you know,
to have, you know, I don't know, cell phone companies, internet,
you know, everything was coming down to this country, which had been at war for such a long time.
So people, Afghan people were really welcoming to us.
You know, you were invited to the wedding of the son of the guy you bought a
carpet from because it was, at this time, kind of cool to be friends with a Westerner.
And it was not a conflict country anymore. It was a country finally at peace.
Ah, okay. But still a totally different world from what you... Completely.
I would even say it's like a travel in time when you go to Afghanistan for the
first time. you know it's like yeah it's like suddenly you're going 200 years back.
When you well this translates into your images as well what you were saying
that wasn't at the point when you went to afghanistan it was a country at peace
uh and and this is also what's,
represented in your images you don't show conflict scenes or or action taking
place but you're focused on the everyday life of the people,
which is often forgotten when you talk about countries like Afghanistan or conflict
countries which have a long history of violence.
Can you tell a bit about your motivation to focus your work on this kind of topics?
Yeah, because when... So I lived in Afghanistan for four years,
But since 2008, I don't live there anymore.
I live in Paris and I go back and forth to Afghanistan, but I always go on an assignment.
And I just end up crossing with this daily life scene,
that I just found interesting, that I just take picture of, but they are never
published because they are not part of the assignment I have been sent to do.
But it is a reality it is a reality even in conflict countries you have beautiful moments,
you have peaceful moments you have moments of solidarity of great humanity but
often you don't have the space on the magazine to assign you to publish these
pictures so I was very happy to be able to,
finally show them because they are a reality which I think it needed to be shown to mm-hmm.
I imagine that going to a country like Afghanistan for you as a woman opens many doors also,
except, I mean, probably some doors remain closed, but for a woman trying to
portray a woman, it might be different than if a man tries to do this.
Yes, of course. I mean, in country, very traditional country like in Afghanistan,
the door of the woman, which are half of humanity, is open to women a lot more easily than for men.
I mean, it will be very difficult for a man to take pictures of women without
being regarded as disrespecting for women.
So, yes, it is. And also with the men, to be a woman, you are not representing a danger.
So your kind of, your vulnerability as a woman is, is...
Well, I don't know how to say the word in English.
Bienveillance? Being watchful, maybe?
Yeah, I think men will be more watchful toward the women than towards the men
because you look at as vulnerable, not a danger,
and usually it could be helpful.
Full and if you take photos of
the men how do they react do they
take you serious at all or do they no
they don't take you seriously but it's good because then
you are you know i think you can go further away
they are more opened um and
you know really uh you
know they you know you make them laugh you
know and it's not a competition of of manhood
with you you know it's like okay you can
do more yeah yeah in
this context I obviously think of this almost iconic photo of yours of the soldier
with the green eyes yeah can you tell the story of this a bit perhaps yeah this
was a This is actually the first time I met with Taliban, so it was back in 2006.
And this is the first one I saw. And I took his picture and his picture was
widely published because I think it was not the usual cliche of Taliban that you are expecting.
Because he looks, well, he has big green eyes and honestly looked more like
a Jesus than the Taliban and I think it was.
It always works when your confrontation of the reality and the usual cliché doesn't match.
And it is something I always try to show in my picture.
It's kind of this disturbance of what you are expecting and what you are going to see.
Because usually the reality doesn't match your cliché. And I like to use my
picture to break down the cliché.
But what happened with this picture is that in 2019,
so a long time after, I walked into an Afghan artist gallery and I saw the picture
of this guy, green-eyed Taliban.
But instead of having a rocket in his bag, it was drawn as pencils. pencils.
And I asked the artist, you know, did you paint this picture?
He told me, yes, I saw it on the front page magazine and I thought it was a good symbolic picture.
So I drawn it and I've drawn it on a big wall in Kabul.
So I went to see it and it was like massive picture of him.
And back in 2020, just before the Taliban took back the country,
I went to meet this Taliban again.
Who is now a father of five and is, you know, he's a teacher in a little madrasa.
And I show him the picture of his picture on the wall of Kabul.
And he was very surprised. And he was like, you know, why do you paint picture of me?
I don't, me, I don't paint picture of your political person on my wall.
This is stupid. there was a kind of you know disconnection in between our two worlds but,
for me it was important to to.
To show that whether we like it or not, whether we...
Behind Taliban, there are like fathers, teachers, brothers.
And it was something which I thought at that time it was important to remind a little bit.
Well, staying on that topic, what is it that you want to communicate with your images?
This is an example of how an image of you has created a conversation,
like an interaction, a discussion, and that has opened many ways to look at things.
Well, I would like, I mean, really, there is one thing I really fight for,
is this very easy way
always to watch at things in black and
white and me I
like to put colors into these black and white pictures to bring shades a little
bit because for example when I arrive in Afghanistan I always add all this cliche
in my head and the first time I met with with these Talibans and the one we just spoke about,
you know, you feel very disturbed because you think you are going to meet nearly...
You know, monstrous persons, not even persons anymore, like, you know, like devils.
And when suddenly you are facing humans, even if they are doing really monstrous
things, it's very disturbing because you don't expect that.
And I was, you know, I was thinking in my head, why I don't expect that?
It's obvious they are human. And I think it will be helpful to remind us that, you know,
kind of normal humans can do awful things, you know, and it's not because you
do awful things that you cannot be human,
you know, like people doing awful things don't have a monster mask on,
you know, they can hide behind normal human mask.
And I think well for me it's.
What I want to show there is in my in the exhibition there is for example a picture of,
Taliban and their apple tree garden it looks a bit like the Eden garden and
when you watch the picture you have the feeling of peaceful,
Eden garden garden but when you
watch a bit closer it's a taliban he has
a um his um his um
gun that in a little bag
that he kind of threw himself he looks
very feminine but the truth is that the drone american drone were up in the
air and we were hiding under the apple tree uh garden so we don't because we
were making an interview of a very big Taliban chief.
So there is nothing peaceful really, but this is the thing I like to...
To show because it's disturbing and
it's asking questions and the
reality is not always what you think it is you've
received very many awards for your images
among a world press photo award what
do these kind of awards and recognition
mean to you if anything thing
well um when
you are a freelance uh photographer like uh
like we are many uh it
is always nice to you know sometimes you don't
know if if you are doing good
if you are on the good path uh
if your work is appreciated and especially
when you are starting you know know this is a well really it's not a job it's
a patient but um it's a patient who kind of ask a lot of sacrifice so to keep
going sometimes it's good to have sometime this kind of recognition.
Of people you people from the same background you know to just tell you that
you know you you you You know, it costs, but it's worth it. Carry on. Yeah, it's good.
Well, awards are one way of measuring success or it's an outwork,
recognition from the outside coming in.
How do you define success on a personal level?
When do you have the feeling that you've done good work? What are your own measures
when it comes to assessing your work?
Well, it depends if it's on the field.
I mean, on the field, it's kind of, you know, the feeling when you press the
shutter and you don't need to watch on the back on your camera. You know that you got it.
This is very rewarding feeling.
Feeling um and when
it's after when it's outside
it's i mean it could be from um
at a legacy exhibition last year i was just uh around my uh my exhibition there
were three old ladies who just ask me questions like one of them asked me, oh,
I'm happy because I saw why now,
I understand why now Afghan people are coming to our country.
I didn't know it was like this in their country.
And the other one, a friend, was like, yeah, it will help us maybe less racist
towards them. And I mean, this is exactly what you want.
I mean, for me, this is a success. It's like, okay, it's great.
To see that your image have an impact and that they raise questions in people. Yeah, exactly.
This is why I think we do the picture in the first place is to be seen and watched
by people and hopefully try to maybe change maybe a bit their minds in some
situation or some people.
And are you never afraid i mean you have daughters you have a family who waits for you to come home,
yes of course i'm afraid and yes
of course sometimes i think you know you know
why i did that and uh but um
fear is
not really um an enemy for me
could be sometimes uh even uh a good companion you know which is going who is
going to help you to to be more aware or to be more careful or you know you
have to listen to to it and to do with it but it's not about feelings things.
I mean the day where fear will completely freeze me, then I think it will be time for me to stop.
But for now, it always ended up well and positively.
I'm not scared of fear. And I would be more scared of not doing something because of fear.
For me, it's better to live a full life without this fear than not living it because of that.
Well, you definitely are a strong woman and I'm sure that you're connected to
many strong women in Afghanistan also.
So do you inspire them? Are they inspiring you in terms of holding through?
Oh, they're definitely inspiring me.
When I arrived to Afghanistan, so I was like I told you, full of cliché,
and I was seeing the Afghan women like they were mostly represented as, you know,
uh submissive victims uh without
a voice which would accept their
uh you know way of living without saying a
thing and then um soon after
arrival i had a privilege to meet this police lady called malala malala which
was amazingly strong she so she was a police lady and she put put together a
female police team in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban,
and they were eating the streets, you know, looking for info.
Pursuing abusive husbands or brothers.
They were smoking cigarettes. They were laughing. They were having,
you know, jokes all the time. I mean, completely the opposite of what I was
thinking of Afghan women.
Sadly, she was killed in 2009 by the Taliban, but she opened to me the door
of a new vision of this Afghan woman.
And since Malala, I met many like her, like, you know, really Afghan women are
not these submissive victims.
I mean, when the Taliban took the country, took back the country two years ago,
the only ones to protest without any kind of protection, without any kind of help,
were the women, you know, on their own, you know, maybe just 50 of them,
you know, shouting, surrounded by heavily armed Taliban.
Banned and you know they were not scared and they carry on and they carry on
and they carry on without the help of anybody so no definitely we we cannot
say anymore that afghan women are just.
Submissive victims they are like in power protesting and probably the only,
the only not shelter
rampart against obscurantism
the only yeah well
I mean maybe the only weapons against the obscurantism because nobody says that
too much but I personally think that for For a majority of Afghan men,
they are not so unhappy about what's happening there.
When was the last time you've been to afghanistan it
was in december how do
you see like you've covered this country
throughout many years yeah for
20 years uh well it's very
um it's very sad what's happening
there because so back in
2003 three four five there was this hope election
were coming everybody was you know
believing it was the end of the war finally peace
was coming and then you know I
just saw year after year suddenly this
little hope going fading away and you know even I was there in the end of July
just two weeks before the Taliban took the country and people were saying that and I was like, no,
that's not possible and it's unbelievable how, you know, then it happened I
mean, the reality is worse than,
your worst nightmare.
Especially for women, I mean, I thought at some point, you know, maybe they will,
they will, you know be more inclusive and respectful and they will not do the
same mistake as they did because we are now in the 21st century but,
no, they are doing exactly the same, they really want to erase the woman of the public life,
no doubt and it's.
It's very difficult now to work there,
first because people are
very scared you know they never know if
it's allowed or not allowed if they
are going to be in trouble because of what they
are telling you so everybody is very reluctant and
even you as a as a photographer you are you have to be very careful because
you you are taking these very big responsibilities of exposing some of the people
you are taking pictures of.
So, you know, you have to be extra careful of what you are doing.
So it's not just your own safety and looking out for yourself,
but also, of course, thinking about the people that you interact with.
Oh, your own safety. I mean, honestly, you have never been safer than now the
Taliban are in power. I mean, there is...
A lot less bombing attacks.
There is no more IED on the road. There is no kidnapping.
So no, for our own security, it's a lot safer now, no doubt.
But the security of the people you are interviewing or interacting with,
yeah this is this is a main concern and
now that you you've been
back what are the current projects
that you're working on in afghanistan what
have been the like your assignments lately well
i'm going back i'm supposed to go back there in 10 days and i have the the feeling
strong feelings that we have to carry on to report on these Afghan women,
what's happening to them, and they are being erased of their public life in Afghanistan.
Let's not erase them on a worldwide scene.
We have to you know be there for them.
I have a question concerning young women today from here from Europe maybe if
a young woman 20 years old would have the same ideas as you had when you were
20 years old what would you tell them what would be your message.
My My message is one I've always listened to is if you want, you can.
And when I wanted to be a photographer,
I remember my teacher at school asked me to call somebody from AFP.
And I called somebody from AFP. And I was told, you know, this job is dead.
You better take a cooking lesson.
You know, even very, very famous photo reporter don't have a job and they have
to find another. This job is dead. Don't do it.
And for a few days, I was really, really sad and really angry.
And then you know I think this now was kind of motor in my life like you know
I won't let anybody tell me I cannot do it if you want you can that's it.
So you see a future for still photography, even in this changing environment,
media environment, in these times that we live in?
It is more and more difficult, of course, but I think people will still want
to read stories with pictures,
want to have pictures of places where not everybody can go.
So readers will always need our eyes to see what's happening far away or in
places very difficult of access or dangerous.
So yes, I think so.
And do you see Afghanistan to be or to continue to be the main focus of your
work or is there in the back of your head another region that you are interested
in and that you'd like to go to?
I don't go only in Afghanistan exclusively, but Afghanistan will always have
a very, very special place in my heart because this is a country I was born as a photographer.
And I made very strong... I mean, this country opened my eyes on what's happening in the world,
give me all my chances so I have a debt towards this country and I will always have it.
There's different kinds of photojournalists. There are these photojournalists,
there are these parachute photographers who go into a situation when there's
breaking news and then they go out and go to another place.
You are a photographer that works on long-term projects.
What is it in your case that draws you to that kind of work, to really spend time?
Actually, except for Afghanistan, I usually do parachute work when I go to assignment.
For example, lately I was in Colombia. It was my first time. before I was in Congo.
It was also my first time. So I do also do that.
It's a bit frustrating, but this is...
This is because of the industry today.
It's like you don't have... When you go on assignment, the production costs
are smaller and smaller and smaller.
So you have to work faster and faster and faster because each day costs quite an amount of money.
But with Afghanistan, it's because of everything I told you.
It's because it's a country that I love. It's a country that I feel in debt with.
It's a country where I have a very special approach to.
And I don't even, you know, it's something I do with my guts.
It's not something I do. I mean, I don't feel like it's a job with Afghanistan.
It's really, you know, it's my, I don't know,
does it exist, this ghost country or i don't know it's the
one i feel for a lot yeah so you
know both worlds here you know the the quick parachute
kind of uh work and then
also you have afghanistan as your really long time exactly yeah yeah yeah and
when it comes to your images and to to composing your images i mean news images
they have to transport a message they have to document what's happening so But
then there's also, of course,
the way how you put things into your frame, how you frame things composition-wise.
What is the balance in your photography or your approach to your images when
it comes to content and the way you present the content in a composition?
Um i have a very uh photojournalist
way i guess of taking pictures that mean i try to be as much as possible discreet
or invisible which can take times you know for people to get used to it and
not to interfere as much as i can,
um so it's very it's yeah it's not a very artistic approach it's more of.
What's happening in front of my eyes really um but yeah well you know i i want my pictures to be,
enjoyable to watch you know i don't want people because
what you want with your picture is people when
they are reading the magazine to not you know
pass them like this but you know maybe stop
so they can read you know they have to be appealing so that's
you know it's like Like when people take the time to open the door to you to
tell their stories and sometimes to relive some very difficult times of their life.
I think my job as a photographer,
what I owe them is to put together a picture which will be as emotional or represent the best I can.
So, you know, they will not have done all this for nothing.
You started your career at a very young age.
And, well, it sounds that a lot of what you are as a photographer right now was just,
you know, training on the job, like being
out there taking pictures making your experiences but
i also imagine that there have been maybe other
photographers along the way mentoring you or
playing an important role in your formation as a photographer either photographers
that you got to know personally that you worked with or that you whatever looked
up to you know from from books or other resources Well, yeah,
of course I had some role model,
but who really, really helped me is when I was just arriving to Afghanistan back in 2004,
I had the tremendous chance of...
There's a little anecdote but you you cut it
if it's uh if it's too long because basically i
had no money for a fixer and i went to kandahar for
the presidential election but because
i had no fixer i was wandering around the day before the the election in the
city and after two minutes i had like two or three boys and men you know following
me but after half an hour like maybe maybe 100 men and boys following me.
It was getting a little bit, you know, hectic.
And then suddenly a police car came in and took me away.
And because I had no fixer, I had no phone, nothing, they arrested me and put
me in the police station.
And I waited all day for the commander of police to arrive, who was speaking a little bit of English,
who well basically was not very happy with me wandering alone in the street
of Kandahar without a fixer, without nothing and he brought me back to the hotel,
but with all the policemen and all the police cars so I arrived at the time of dinner at the hotel,
because I had to go to show them my passport.
And the police guy and all the police
and I arrived and all the other journalists were then looking at me.
You know, I was feeling so ashamed. I wanted to disappear.
But then one of the fixers came in and asked me, you know, what happened?
Why did you arrive with the police? What happened?
So I told him, well, the thing is like I have no money. So I have no money for a fixer.
And then he told me, you know, I'm working with London Times.
Anthony Lloyd, who is a writer, and Richard Mills,
who is a photographer, photographer let me introduce you
to them and then he introduced me to them and
then for one month that took me with them
so Richard the the photographer
who sadly is dead now but show me
you know how to where to
put your pictures how to send them how to edit
them how to do the caption then with Anthony I was able to see I was you know
making the interview reacting with the people blah blah blah and with them I
learned you know everything I needed to know I was very lucky,
Thank you for sharing that anecdote. Very interesting. Yeah,
always some positive out of. Yeah.
Well, thank you very much, Veronique. It was, well, wonderful talking to you
about your work, about your experiences, especially in Afghanistan.
There's so much other topics that we could have talked about in your work,
but I think it was nice to focus on
your work in Afghanistan done in this interview so thank you
very much and all the best of luck for your future projects thank
you kai thank you pia thanks a lot thank you
very much i take home from you that yeah we
have to follow our passion we have to not be
afraid and we have to be very loyal with the people very careful with the people
that we take photos of and yeah try to i i was really impressed by what you
said to break these clichés that we all have in our heads.
Wherever we travel, we always have a preformed idea.
And so this will really stay in my mind. Thank you for that.
Thank you, Pia. Thanks. Thanks, Guy. Thanks for having me. Thank you.
Yes, that was the interview with the French photojournalist Véronique de Viguerie,
recorded at the media day of this year's photo festival Lagasili Baden-Foto.
With me also Pia Parolin, my support on the microphone. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
All links and more information can be found in your podcast app.
Thank you for listening and see you soon, your Kai.