Photographer Maxime Daviron spent 12 years of his life exploring the Pyrenees. A decade of immortalizing the wild mountain to, today, publish his work in a dedicated book, “Terres Perdues”, which is scheduled to be published in November. A collection of a hundred photos where the mountain seems almost unreal, straight out of a heroic fantasy universe.
Originally from Périgord, Maxime Daviron is a professional photographer based in Lassales, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, with a particular appetite for nature and the mountains. Lulled by the arts of painting and cinema, he imagined traveling to the other side of the world to immortalize the still wild mountainous lands.
But for 12 years, it is not in New Zealand, Peru or Nepal that Maxime Daviron has had fun, but in the Pyrenees. “I came to study photography in Toulouse, and it was without any real ambition that I went for a walk in the Pyrenees since at that time, I had a very precise idea of what I wanted to take as a photos, I thought I was going to have to go to the other side of the world,” the photographer recalls. Finally, Maxime Daviron simply went to the other end of the department.
“Well, sometimes you have to walk a little, but in the Pyrenees, I discovered a fabulous mountain, ultimately very wild. I didn’t think I would find a place where man is absent so close to us. I “It was the ideal place for the images I wanted to make, and 12 years later, I have never left them,” he emphasizes.
Maxime Daviron has brought together a hundred of his most beautiful images in a book entitled “Terres Perdues”, which is scheduled for publication at the end of the year and which can be pre-ordered. This allows you to help financially with its publication, or simply to make a donation via an Ulule campaign.
From Monte Perdido to the Mountain of Destiny
“What I wanted was to convey atmospheres rather than simple images, and for that, I realized that it was better to avoid blue skies.” The mission is successful since a very particular atmosphere emerges from these photos, where the Pyrenees appear as a land hostile to man. Misty, dark, gigantic, the mountains are often enhanced by clouds reflecting the ambient light or accentuating the grandeur of the cliffs.
Maxime Daviron
In “Lost Lands”, the Pyrenees seem to come out of a fantastic, magical universe, sometimes reminiscent of the visuals of the film adaptations of “Lord of the Rings” by Peter Jackson.
Maxime Daviron – Maxime Daviron
Like these shots of mountains reddened by sunlight, similar to Mordor, or these snow-capped rock walls, where the Fellowship of the Ring must turn back to pass through the kingdom of the Dwarves.
Maxime Daviron
The cover, revealing an ibex rather than a dragon, reminds us that we are in the real world, somewhere between France and Spain.
These photos require real preparation work, with the search for a precise point of view, a study of the weather and above all a scouting of the terrain so as not to take too many risks. “Sometimes, I go away for three days to take a photo, and I take a lot of them during storms. In the mountains, it can quickly be dangerous, so I locate shelters upstream. Then, I place my cameras depending on what I have in mind. I think about a composition. For example, for photos of storms, they are triggered by the flash of lightning. Then there is also a bit of luck like with this photo. the lightning strikes the top of the hill, it’s the icing on the cake,” explains the photographer. Anecdotes that he sometimes tells in the small texts that accompany the images.
Maxime Daviron
From this decade of exploring the Pyrenees, Maxime Daviron has pampered a few areas, and in particular the Cirque de Gavarnie, for him (as for many), the most beautiful spot in the Pyrenees. The Hautes-Pyrénées department also has a special place in his book.
