The Sentinels of Silence

Emmanuel Boitier

2020 — Auvergne, France

About this series

Winter has become “extra-ordinary”. In January 2020 I went for a hike to the Dore and Cézallier mountains in Auvergne, in central France. This work is a tribute to the trees that dare to go a little higher than the others, away from the comfort of the forest. In the mountains of Auvergne, as in many other massifs, winter is waning and the snow is disappearing because of global warning. Capturing these Sentinels of Silence is no longer just a tribute, it becomes a testimony.
Beyond the climatic disturbances, which we will have to face, I am afraid that the world will become disenchanted. Can you imagine a world where we can no longer enjoy the simple pleasure of walking in the snow, observe a tree petrified by the cold, the snow and the wind, with the sole idea of contemplating its beauty?

Photographer: Emmanuel Boitier
Nationality: French
Based in: Auvergne, France
Website: www.emmari.net
Instagram: @emmanuelboitier

Emmanuel Boitier, born in 1971, is a French freelance photographer. With a degree in Biology, he works mainly for the nature magazine press. He is a regular contributor to the French magazine Terre Sauvage, and the official photographer of the Tree of the Year contest for France. He likes to build subjects in which he considers the landscape as a character in its own right, by setting up a simple photographic writing, with a contemplative look on ordinary subjects, a photography that is characterized by the choice of lights and soft colors and a certain poetry.