Born in 1992, Adrienne Surprenant has been a press photographer for ten years. Of Canadian origin, he lives in France and regularly works in conflict zones, whether in Ukraine, the Central African Republic or even Sudan. He worked numerous times for the newspaper. the worldfor which he covered the situation in Lebanon from September 24 to October 11.
How was the departure to Lebanon?
I was eating in a canteen on the Grand-Popo road in Benin, where I was on a long-term project on climate change, and had just organized a series of important meetings when I received the call from the newspaper’s photography department. . I was already constantly following the news in the Middle East, so I didn’t hesitate long before leaving.
In fact, in my head I was already in Lebanon. I flew as quickly as possible to Paris, where I stayed for four hours, time to receive the safety equipment provided by the newspaper (bulletproof vest, ballistic helmet, cash, etc.) and pack my bags. That same night I was in Beirut.
How does the arrival to the country occur?
I met Hélène Sallon, the newspaper’s correspondent in Lebanon, to take stock and went to the Ministry of information, where I had to fill out a lot of paperwork and wait two hours in the company of a group of international journalists before obtaining the work authorization issued by the government.
As we planned to go to the south of the country in the next few days, I also had to apply to the army for permission to work in this area, which has a special status. Finally, the news kept us longer in Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a bombing in the Lebanese capital.
How does it happen, specifically, when you arrive with your camera on the ground, after a bombing, for example?
In Beirut we heard the detonations in the distance and they quickly kept us informed through social networks, so it was not difficult to know when and where the attacks took place. Whenever possible, I work in duo with another photographer, Ali Khara, who lives in Lebanon.
Between us we have a much better assessment of the risks and decide together whether to go somewhere or not. Getting around Beirut at the moment is very complicated. The city is a giant traffic jam, even in normal times. Now, more people flee their neighborhoods after each bombing, and the streets are clogged with the vehicles of numerous refugees from the south of the country, who have headed to the capital to escape the operations of the Israeli army. We found an efficient taxi driver who we worked with daily.
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