Published
VIDEO. Haute-Savoie: the black grouse on the verge of extinction in the lens of the young star of wildlife photography Jérémie Villet
VIDEO. Haute-Savoie: the black grouse on the verge of extinction in the lens of the young star of wildlife photography Jérémie Villet
He notably made a reputation as a snow photographer with his stunning photos of animals against an immaculate white background. That day, he hides in the middle of the mountain to capture the beauty of an endangered alpine animal: the black grouse.
Jérémie Villet, winner of the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year “rising star” award, is a young star in wildlife photography. It blends into the snowy landscapes, as beautiful as they are hostile, to capture the wild fauna. That day, he woke up around five in the morning in the mountains to take photos of the black grouse, a rooster symbol of the European Alps, particularly renowned for its courtship displays.
Several individuals of this species of sedentary bird are in the viewfinder of the image hunter hidden under its camouflage: “We have to hope that there is one who goes to the top. They coo and also make a sort of hissing sound. That’s it, there’s one coming… He’s there… He’s come… Shhhh …” he told the magazine “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” (replay).
“These are animals that are disappearing and we don’t really realize it”
“He arrived right on the axis where there is the white [de la neige] in front. On the other hand, as it is very windy, he cannot open his rear wheel and parade. Otherwise, it feels like a sail to him and he leaves… explains Jérémie Villet, lying in wait in complete silence behind his well-concealed telephoto lens. It’s beautiful with red and blue. It’s perfect, exactly how I like it, all white. It really looks like a painting.”
“The black grouse is a bit like our own polar bear or penguin, he reminds us in these times of global warming and human pressure on wild species. These are animals that are disappearing and we don’t really realize it…” alerts this son of farmers, born on a farm in the middle of the fields in Yvelines, to whom Laurent Delahousse’s teams had already visited the Alps in winter 2020, busy photographing the white rabbit…
Excerpt from “In the eyes of Jérémie” broadcast in “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” on the 11th May 2024.
> Replays of France Télévisions news magazines are available on the Franceinfo website and its mobile application (iOS & Android), “Magazines” section.
