It was morning ” artists “ as Kylian Mbappé said when arriving at the Clairefontaine gymnasium, located below the Michel Platini training ground, on Thursday June 7. Jersey on his shoulders and crampons on his feet, the captain of the France team is followed by all of his teammates and the blue staff. The Blues have an appointment for the traditional artistic photo session, before each competition.
For Euro 2024, the idea is to represent “the French team and the French”, as indicated by photographer Jean-François Robert, a regular at the exercise. An idea thought up and validated ahead of the results of the European elections, but whose significance is even stronger and more symbolic today, after the dissolution of the National Assembly and the next holding of legislative elections (June 30 and July 7) .
Fifty-two photos taken in five minutes flat
To obtain the final shot, Jean-François Robert and his team took one hundred portraits of French men and women in the space of five days, in ephemeral studios set up in “Paris and its province”. It is a photograph of the country, which has strived to bring together people from all walks of life (from firefighters to beekeepers), and of all ages (from children to almost centenarians).
On photo day, “It’s adrenaline in its raw state”, smiles Jean-François Robert, who arrived on the scene at 6:30 a.m. to welcome the teams installing the tarpaulin. Almost four hours later, the Blues arrive, Antoine Griezmann in the lead, very wise, who watches where he should place himself and what posture he should adopt. Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga follow suit, and improvise a mini-game of basketball, with a basket located at the very top of the gymnasium, near the roof. Without success. Kylian Mbappé brings up the rear. Nothing is left to chance: the captain settles not far from his coach Didier Deschamps and the vice-captain “Grizou”.
The shoot lasts approximately five minutes. Every second counts and, fortunately for Jean-François Robert and his team, no hiccups are to be deplored, unlike the 2019 photo where the leads were blown while the France A, women’s and Espoirs teams were present for the shoot. Fifty-two clicks, as these experts call the photos, are taken. There will only be one photo left, selected the following weekend, and published this Thursday, June 13.
