“One hundred years of photography in the French Armed Forces”. Twentieth episode. A photographic record of French military operations in Mali.

A photographer with ECPAD since 2011, petty officer Jérémy has been in Mali with other military reporters since 13 January 2013 as part of Operation Serval.

Two months after his arrival, he accompanies a group from the 92nd infantry regiment (RI) on patrol. Near the village of Teurteli, the infantrymen are attacked by enemy fighters and exposed to fire from assault rifles and rocket launchers. The French soldiers fire back under the watchful eye of Jérémy, who follows the operation closely. At the end of the encounter, he clicks the shutter at the exact moment when the leader of the section is shouting at his men to withdraw and disengage. When the curious infantrymen ask why he did not flee or use his weapon, he answers that he feels safe with them and his role is to do his job while not putting them in danger.

“I wanted to document the tense faces, the atmosphere, pay tribute to the soldiers and show the full intensity of these phases”, he says later.

In more peaceful moments, he exploits all the possibilities of digital photography, capturing faint glimmers and shifting shadows in a starlit camp. He shoots moments of joy in Korioume, when a local man revs up his motorbike to celebrate the departure of the Islamists, but also the dismay of a bomb disposal expert in the centre of Goo, where a motorbike hides the body of a jihadist wearing a belt of explosives.

Photos credits : © ECPAD / Second maître Jérémy