Emmanuel Braun

Emmanuel Braun

Based
Dakar, Senegal
Born
Neuilly, France
Status
Photographer
“All stories are different, and each conflict has a great charge of emotion that is not easy to quantify or compare.”

Beat

I cover mainly news and conflicts.

One Shot

. Bangui, Central African Republic. REUTERS/Emmanuel Braun
A protester stabs the dead body of a Muslim man being dragged along a street in Bangui.
“This is one of the strongest pictures I’ve ever taken. I was running along with the crowd dragging a dead man’s body on a boulevard. At that very moment, a young man showed up on my right side and started stabbing the body, killing him a second time. You can clearly see a knife blade half stuck in the man’s stomach. The man stabbing the body is a Christian and we can see his crucifix balancing over the dead Muslim man, which makes the picture even stronger.”

Profile

My uncle was a professional photographer in Paris in the 70’s. I was posing for him when I was a kid and even ended up having my face on millions of alphabet pasta packs for children. Each visit to my uncle’s studio felt like travelling to another planet. The equipment was impressive, everything was about light, framing and composition... Image was at the centre of all things.

I learned to photograph at the age of 16, roaming the streets (and roofs) of Paris camera in hand with a group of mates sharing the same passion for photography. We were young ‘rebels’, never missing a protest in Paris and never going out without our cameras. That’s where I had my first taste of the challenge and the flavour of trying to capture a key moment and fast action in a hostile environment.

I work primarily for TV but started contributing to the pictures during the rebel war in eastern Chad in 2007.

The main difficulty in doing both video and photos is having to cover everything with a single body and two lenses and therefore constantly having to switch from a lens to another in tough climatic conditions, crossing fingers each time not to loose or spoil my unique cameras... I got used to it after a while and started enjoying it more and more.

It is difficult if not impossible to say which assignment has left the biggest mark on me. All stories are different, and each conflict has a great charge of emotion that is not easy to quantify or compare.

I learn lessons on each assignment and the biggest might be still to come. One simple but such as precious one was given by a fellow photographer: never leave your lens cap on!

I respect Robert Capa for what he brought to war photography and photojournalism.