The "Big Bang" Phenomenon - Interview with French Photographer Armand Sarlangue, Winner of the 2022 Siena Drone Award
A volcanic eruption captured by French photographer Armand Sarlangue with a drone in Iceland is both spectacular and thrilling. This beautiful picture could only be captured after 30 hours of uninterrupted hard work and waiting. The image allows people to see the most primitive wildness and explosive power on the earth, and it also reminds Armand of the “Big Bang” that occurred billions of years ago. It deservedly won Armand the 2022 Siena Drone of the Year Award.
Although Armand modestly attributes his shooting to luck, this award-winning photo represents Armand’s hard work, innovation, and second-generation apprenticeship. It also demonstrates that Armand is not afraid of hardship and challenge, speaking to the beautiful earth and awakening people’s awareness of ecological protection.
We are honored to be able to interview Armand. In the following interview, he vividly narrates his photographic enlightenment and experience, especially the story behind his shooting of “Big Bang”, which is so exciting and memorable. We hope you enjoy reading it!
Q: You are such an accomplished photographer winning many prestigious photography awards in the past few years. Please share with us the path you took to become such an extraordinary visual artist.
A: Ha ha, It’s difficult to answer after such kind compliments… Well, photography is a family thing, and my first contact with it came from my dad, who was a pro photographer here in France. He was a passionate artist and a fantastic photographer. It was a strong part of his identity, and that’s something I admired. He had a dark room just next to the kid’s bedroom, and sneaking in that room was something magic for me back then. I remember well the first time he showed me how to develop an argentic photo. Seeing the image appear on paper felt like nothing but magic in my kid’s eyes, and that’s probably when I fell in love with photography for the first time. I got privileged in a way, because I had easy access to photographic gear very early, from my dad, and I learned how to use a camera when quite young. Then I had some really crazy teen years! I left school very early, and I kind of left photography behind for travels, parties, and troubles… It’s not the part of my life I’m the proudest about, but it definitely played a role in my journey. The hunger I feel to create now somehow also comes from these years when I could have created more.
Around my twenties, my dad offered me to work with him as his assistant, and that’s when I started to do it professionally. We were doing mostly commercial, studio, and reportage photography. That’s where I learned everything about “professional shootings”, slowly reconnecting with my love for visual arts. But I never attended any photography school, and I learned everything in the field. During that time I was creating my own images, always related to nature, but I was living from commercial and studio shootings, and step by step I started to work by myself as a freelancer, still collaborating with my dad. We had a photo studio together, and it was going well. That’s when I met the woman and the little girl that are now my family.
In 2017, my dad got diagnosed with cancer. A decisive one. It’s been a complicated period, emotionally and professionally, questioning all I had built up to that point. One thing coming out of it was that I wanted to focus on creating the art I love. Life’s fragile and short. Better to focus on what we love exclusively. At least that’s how I see it. From there I started to travel more, and create more nature images. Being in nature and capturing what I see and what I feel is what fulfills me, and I have dedicated myself to it since. That was also the moment I started to participate in some selected photography contests.
It’s not easy to turn a passion into a full-time activity, and when it comes to art, it also comes to whether your creations can connect with others, and I thought that these competitions were a stimulating way to check how my peers would see my work. I got lucky very quickly and won several major awards, which helped me to connect with my first partners and clients as a nature photographer. In 2020 my father passed away after quite a fight, and photography remained a strong connection I have left with him. After that, I continued on my way and started to offer workshops, NFTs, and limited edition FineArt prints, while working in collaboration with brands and agencies. It’s a work in progress, but I’m on the right path…
It’s a bit of a long answer, but all these have been important parts of my creative journey I think, and brought me where I am now… I hope it somehow answers the question.
Q: What is your philosophy toward photography? What are the major themes that you wish to communicate with the audience?
A: There are several things I try to put in my images, but the core of it is that I believe photography is a powerful way to inspire people to connect more with the natural world, at an emotional level. I believe it is essential to help move on with the ecological crisis we’re living in nowadays: bringing visual stories from nature that triggers emotions in front of the viewers. That’s how we can help trigger more awareness towards conservation, as photographers. And I think all types of photography can play its role here. From documentary to more creative styles. In my case, I try to create authentic images from unique natural displays through which I can also express my own emotions and stories.
The experience of traveling, exploring, discovering new faces of nature and people is also something I value a lot. Being alone in the wilderness is a very rich experience where you can experience joy, amazement, and gratefulness, but also fear, loneliness, and sadness sometimes. It helps us know ourselves better, and it can make us stronger human beings.
And last but not least, I love taking pictures!
Q: Congratulations on winning the Grand Prize of the Siena Drone Awards, 2022. Please share with us your winning photograph, “Big Bang”, and the story behind it.
A: Thank you so much! It was a big surprise and a great personal achievement. I’m so grateful for it!
Big Bang is probably one of my all-time favorite images I captured.
I came to Iceland on September 21 mostly to photograph the volcano. I wanted to go for quite a few months, but French people weren’t allowed in Iceland because of COVID restrictions.
When I finally arrived, the eruption had stopped just two days before… I was disappointed but went to some other locations in the Highlands. On that day, my plan was to leave the Highlands after my sunrise shooting to head over to southeast Iceland, because a storm was announced arriving from the west. As planned, I left after sunrise, and drove all the way to Stokkness, to realize the conditions were not interesting. Iceland’s weather is capricious… I drove back to the Glacier Lagoon to arrive just in time for a memorable sunset, and decided to stay here for the night, as the aurora forecast was promising. As I was having a sandwich and a beer in the parking lot, I got an alert about the eruption starting again… I was quite tired, but I couldn’t resist. I drove back 5-6 hours full west to arrive at the parking lot of the site around 5 am, just at the same time as the rain… The storm was arriving. At that point, I was awake for 24h. It was time to put on my rain clothes, and I hiked to the actual eruption site (1h-1h30 with steep parts). Honestly, I was exhausted, but facing an active volcano for the first time in my life gave me a serious boost! The winds were so strong, and the rain intensified, but it was warm due to the lava field. It was still almost night, and shooting sharp exposures with the wind and rain was tricky. At some point, I noticed a secondary fissure in the middle of the lava field and tried to get a better view of it, but it wasn’t really visible. The only way to capture the patterns was from above, with a drone. I had never flown a drone under such rain and wind, so I hesitated for a moment, then I just went for it. During a lull in the storm, I sent the drone and spent the battery shooting this huge fire wheel spreading hot lava. I struggled to bring the drone back, but I managed and got my drone back, all wet even into the battery compartment… Funny thing is that the drone is still flying perfectly.
I think I got super lucky with this image. The fissure was ephemeral, and I didn’t see other drones flying at that moment, probably due to the conditions. A few hours later, the authorities closed the site because of the storm making access dangerous, and the fissure was gone when the site was reopened. I ended with a unique image of a fissure that is now gone forever. Pretty cool, and super lucky!
I called the piece Big Bang because the patterns reminded me of a galaxy of fire exploding from the inside. Like a gigantic explosion of destruction and creation. The Big Bang.
I rarely slept so well after that long shooting day.
Q: What are the major elements you are looking for when taking photos?
A: Story, beauty, emotion, uniqueness. I think those are the most important points for me. I’m a big fan of shooting patterns from nature, and I like when the scene itself tells a story, but also when it can be evocative to the viewers, and somehow connect to their imagination. Visually, I often try to focus on the harmony of reliefs, lines, and colors.
Q: Please share with us some of the most memorable stories when taking your shots.
A: Well, Big Bang was one of my most memorable moments shooting nature. But all the experiences in the wild are priceless and memorable. Actually, there is one moment that really stays in mind after the years. In 2020 I went to shoot the glacier Blanc in the French Alps, in September. The announced forecast was bad, but I went anyway, and I spent several days in the park. It had been in a deep fog most of the time. The ambiance was mysterious and foreboding. It was the end of the season, so nobody was around, except the people from the refuge. One morning, I hiked to the glacier before sunrise, in the fog, and I arrived at the glacier viewpoint that was just at the limit of the fog. It was the most amazing cloud inversion I’ve seen. The fog waves were rolling over the glacier and underneath the valley creating some of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever seen, and I was there, alone, enjoying the show just for myself. The mood of the moment was really strange, kind of nostalgic, and was so well fitting the story I wanted to tell about vanishing glaciers. It was a very memorable moment among many others.
Q: What kind of challenges have you faced when taking landscape photos?
A: Mmmh, the physical part can be tough sometimes. Long hikes, freezing bivouac nights, climbing to reach the right shooting spot… But it’s also a fantastic experience and a lot of fun. On the creative side, I think creative blocks are part of all photographers’ journeys, and it can be really frustrating when it happens. It happened to me several times over the years, but I always overcome it with passion and curiosity. I’d say nature photography is like an endless succession of challenges.. Physical, technical, and creative challenges. It needs a lot of passion to overcome all of these and it’s so incredibly rewarding when you create something you’re happy with.
Q: What projects are you currently working on?
A: Haha, I’m a messy person, and I’m always working on way more things than I can actually handle. Right now I focus on new opportunities with agencies and an art gallery based in Asia while preparing my new NFT drop: Yin Yang Trilogy… I’m also creating a new series of images called “Life”, composed of aerial photographs from the Highlands of Iceland, exclusively. I have several destinations planned for this year, such as Turkey, Alaska, and some others for photo tours I’m guiding. I’m also working on preparing new photography workshops, among other things.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?
A: Well, first thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you Adelina for inviting me.
Sharing the stories of nature is my lifetime passion, and I’m planning to continue until my last days.
Also, I want to highlight the importance of other photographers’ work in my journey. The inspiration from other artists is something really priceless and essential to create and feed our own visual universes.
*****
Armand’s recount of his path toward mastering photography and how he captured the astounding image of a live volcano is truly amazing. His dedication to presenting this amazing planet is inspiring and encouraging. We wish him great success in reaching out to more people to appreciate this planet through his photography.