This photograph represents a parade of wild elephants traversing the plains of the African savannah. Magnified by a surprising play of light and shade revealed through the use of black and white, the elephants appear within a vast and contrasting natural landscape. The photographer pays tribute to the beauty and dignity of this species and promises to reveal to us the most essential elements of nature. Sensitive to the powerful majesty of these mammals, the artist confronts them in a visual paradox in which they are also shown to be highly vulnerable. This is because this silent and solemn march also proves to be a testimony to their progressive extinction. Protected natural areas are becoming more rare as human intervention increases, wild animals soon come to lack resources: ?Everywhere that humankind progresses, nature regresses.? The sublime and the tragic are thus combined in this timeless image that re-establishes, if only for a moment, the supremacy of the animal kingdom within the natural order.

**The artist: Laurent Baheux**

Laurent Baheux was attracted to journalism and editing at first, rapidly discovering a passion for photography and becoming a self-taught photographer. His devoted practice and his knowledge of the sporting world opened the doors to the top press photography agencies. From then on, he covered the main international competitions and channelled his energy towards conditions of speed and extreme demand. He has always been fascinated by Africa. From 2002, during a visit to Tanzania, he began private work on the wild fauna, its beauty, strength, roughness and great fragility. He chose black and white, with its play on shadow, light and contrast, to immortalise rare and ephemeral scenes of nature, constantly trying to sublimate the animals, to capture the magnificence of their attitudes, the emotion of their look? Through this authentic quest, Laurent wants to show the vividness of these species which are still alive, but more menaced than ever, and the immense richness that they represent for the planet. In the continuity of his photographic commitment, he accompanies and supports the deeds of organisations which work for the protection of nature and the preservation of biodiversity. He is also the author of Land of lions, a sensitive and moving work in black and white, like an ode to wild life...