Romain Laurendeau

Romain Laurendeau,  Zoom 2013 winner of  PRESS PHOTO ZOOM & PUBLIC ZOOM presented by Sylvie Hugues, editor in chief of Réponses Photo magazine.

A set of black and white reportage photographs of gold prospectors in the village of Tenkoto in Senegal. Laurendeau will have an exhibition of twenty photographs, printed by Central Dupon, shown at the SALON DE LA PHOTO in Paris from 7 to 11 November 2013 and will be shown at the CP+ fair in Japan from 13 to 16 February 2014.

Romain Laurendeau is a committed, passionate, talented and brave photographer who unstintingly defends what he believes in. As we know, reportage photography is in crisis. Romain knows that the press seldom publishes black and white photographs nowadays. And yet this does not discourage him as he follows gold prospectors in the village of Tenkoto in Senegal, a remote spot where he can get a close-up view of humanity. Now 38, Romain studied photography at the ETPA in his hometown of Toulouse.

His strength may relate to the fact that he recovered from an illness that almost blinded him: in 2009 a cornea transplant saved his life, and he felt he was reborn into photography. Since then he has tirelessly documented the world with a style and approach that is his and his alone.- Sylvie Hugues