Jean-François Fabriol, speleologist photographer: “It has been said of me that I make the caves speak”

This Saturday, November 30, 2024, Jean-François Fabriol, photographer and speleologist, alias “Jeff”, was to come and present his latest work in Bruniquel (Tarn-et-Garonne), as part of an “Evening of the curious”, organized by The Mangrove.

The sudden death of Michel Soulier, president of this club of enthusiasts, decided otherwise. We had already carried out the interview with “Jeff”, which we are publishing today, as a tribute to the man who has just passed away.

Who are you Jean-François Fabriol?

I am 74 years old, a retired maths teacher, I live in the Lot, I have always been taking photos underground! I started when I was 13 with my father’s camera. I took my first real cave photos in Padirac in 1983. Like everyone else, I pressed the shutter button, that’s all. I learned to use remote flashes equipped with photosensitive cells. In 1999, my first digital. So that changes everything, yes and no. The real revolution was the possibility of remotely controlling flashes, which gives great flexibility for light management. Above all, digital technology makes it possible to multiply the number of shots and to advance the “in situ” photograph. From an artistic point of view, the voice has still broadened.

I dared everything that came into my head and I discovered strong images that particularly appealed to me. It has even been said of me that I make caves speak, that I show caves as they have never been seen, that in any place underground I am capable of taking an extraordinary photo. These people are exaggerating!

Taking photos in caves represents a technical challenge (darkness, cold, humidity, rugged geography, etc.), not to mention the physical risks, how do you overcome it?

You underline it well in the wording of the question but I will reverse the two difficulties: to overcome the technical challenge you must be perfectly autonomous in underground progression to devote yourself completely to photography. So we start by being a caver to get to know the environment well before launching into underground photography. Finally, we must not hide it, underground photography requires a lot of patience, work and unfailing motivation. I didn’t learn photography from books or at school. It was in the field, camera in hand, that I sought to capture what I saw and felt.

Unless I’m mistaken, we don’t see much underground…

But no ! Underground, freedom is total, since light has to be invented. So I took inspiration from what I saw in the light of our lamps. A few years ago, acetylene lamps provided warm light, which allowed images in the style of those made with candles. The power of today’s LED lamps has given me ideas for managing this backlight which gives depth and relief to the images. This is why my photos are often dark, but strong, powerful. It is not always necessary to light the entire photographed field. It often seems to me that a single light source will highlight the essential element, and this is enough to convey the mood of the exploration.

Can we talk about the pleasure of photography?

The pleasure of photography is inventing an image, triggering it, and discovering the result. The moment the photo appears on the screen is magical. Often we are close to what we planned and we still need to refine the settings. Sometimes we don’t succeed and nothing comes. And sometimes we discover an unexpected, unforeseen, astonishing image which gives the idea of ​​continuing differently, and there, I launch my war cry! I spent hours and hours perfecting shots. Time no longer exists for me. The search for an image that carries a message takes over and makes me forget the arduous conditions of shooting underground.

You are also an adventurer with a camera attached to your wrist, and a lecturer…

In the last fifteen years, I have traveled around fifty times, 10 times to China, 5 times to Haiti and Mexico. I also went down to the bottom of the Padirac chasm 25 times! I know the Bruniquel cave at your place well. When I go on an expedition, what matters to me, more than the discoveries, is the life of the expedition, the team. I don’t take photos for my own pleasure. If a photo is successful it must circulate, be broadcast, shared. So this unusual universe that is the underground world frequented by a very small number of individuals, we must show it, talk about it and photos are used for that.
Every time the opportunity arises I exhibit my photos to the caving and non-caving public. But these photos would not exist without the precious and essential help of assistants who will participate by equipping the cavities, carrying the equipment, placing the flashes, playing the models. Underground photography is a team effort. A good, motivated team is a major asset for successful shots.

Do you maintain an interest in “surface” things, would you say that these two worlds ignore each other?

When I went on an expedition, I took lots of photos of the country and its people. My latest invention is a magical composition based on the mirror effect: a “kalography”. This creation applies to any object, including caves, and this is how I make a link between the universes which seem to oppose each other.

Tell us about your photo library?

Of course, tens of thousands of photos, well beyond the caves. Countries, people, curiosities. In 2022, I published “Unusual Planet”, which summed up, in a way, fifteen years of underground explorations. “During the first confinement, I posted one photo per day online on my social network page, photos from my travels, I then wanted to organize all of these photos, and which gave birth to this book . Here, I leave Quercy and explore the rest of the planet. It’s an opening to the world. This is what you need to understand: caves, which most of us never see, are part of our world.

(1) Igues & Crozes du Quercy, volume 2, from Finangraphic Éditions, €28

A familiar of Bruniquel

Close friend (they were also the same age) of the late Michel Soulier, Jean-François Fabriol participated in a number of expeditions to the depths of the Bruniquel cave, rejoicing at the fabulous discovery that was made there: at 336 meters from the entrance, developed structures have just been dated to around 176,500 years old. This discovery considerably pushes back the date of human visits to the caves, the oldest formal proof dating so far from 38,000 years ago (Chauvet).

Michel Soulier said of his friend “Jeff” that he was “above all a speleologist at heart, one who loves the underground world and knows it well. His photos require no credit: the signature is there, authentic, true, like that of a good bottle that reflects a terroir. It is the work of an artist. The specificity of caves and chasms is black, “more than black”, cold, damp, thick.