Gueules du Rugby: A photographic Odyssey by Philippe Echaroux and Elinchrom

10/03/2015 ISO 1200 Magazine 0 Comments

Today we share a part of the interview with photographer Philippe Echaroux, thanks to Elinchrom ( you can read the full interview on elinchrom.com )

1 year in the making, more than 20,000km in a car touring French rugby clubs, 600 portraits taken and retouched. This is the challenge that Philippe Echaroux launched himself into: "Gueules du Rugby", a recently released 400 page photo book.

What more natural than bringing the ELB 400 into the Scrum.

Q: Philippe, what inspired such a great book?

We wanted to bring out a book coinciding with the Rugby Football World Cup, which is taking place at the moment. Our goal was to produce a work that marks a milestone, a real moment in time of French rugby, both of today and in the past. We wanted to really bare the face of the sport, provoke anecdotes, and talk about newcomers as well as legends.

I’ve had carte blanche to produce astonishing, expressive, and offbeat portraits. Photographing so many symbolic figures in such a short period of time over such a vast country as France was a real challenge!

Q:One year of travelling around France for this project! Tell us a bit more about this.

There are 14 top rugby clubs in France, which is already an incredible distance to travel. They’re spread practically over the whole of France. If we add around 300 rugby players around the country, that’s almost 20,000 km added onto the route.

"When you just have a minute to photograph a legend like Johnny Wilkinson in the back of a dark damp changing room, you’re lucky to have your ELB 400 flash!"