Aux pays des brumes

Photographers and film makers Sophie Planque and Jérémy Vaugeois take you on a sensory journey through the mysterious “Land of Mists”.

100 exceptional, never-before-seen photos in a 176-page book that blends the intimate with the grand. The warmth of fire and the harshness of winter. Come and dream in the winter beauty captured in snow and ice as you turn the pages.

THE PROJECT: WHY?

• What is there left to discover of the world if not the secret beauty of ancestral traditions and the richness of hearts and souls when they make the link between past and future, between humans and their environment?

After a vertical tour of the American continent, from Alaska to the tip of the Andes, Sophie Planque and Jérémy Vaugeois decided to turn their gaze towards Europe on its eastern borders.

Among the great “forgotten” countries of history, the Baltic States have a special place. Small “provinces” wedged between the Russian giant and Western Europe, they are also subject to specific climatic conditions, with natural areas covered in snow in winter and wet in summer. Above all, over the last few years, they have taken on a new face and a new trajectory that can inspire us and make us think about how we build our future.

It’s about time we remembered, along with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, that Europe too has an unsuspected cultural heritage linked to its environment, in the same way as the cult of Pachamama in Latin America, Shintoism in Japan or Buddhism in Tibet embodied by the Dalai Lama. These are all cults that continue to fascinate us.

The Baltic countries, hidden under a fine mist of ice, are now daring to emerge from this veil and assert themselves as peoples, increasingly asserting their roots and their indigenous character, underpinned by animist traditions and a deep, ancestral relationship with nature.

At a time when our Western societies are questioning the place of man in his environment, the meaning and consideration of living things, this region on the cultural frontiers of Europe offers us keys to understanding and a new source of learning.

It’s a breath of fresh air, an alternative way of looking at things that will fuel our collective intelligence.

THE PROJECT: WHAT?
>> A TRIBUTE TO SLOWNESS,
A PHOTOGRAPHIC AND HUMAN QUEST 5,000 KM IN THE BALTIC WINTER AT -35°C

With the humility of a journey made by bicycle, it was also a question of giving ourselves the time to meet and respect: respect for a fragile nature, respect for others when they welcome us.

The two authors travelled a total of 5,000 kilometres, in the middle of winter, at -35°C. It’s an approach that has opened many doors that were previously closed to other photographers and film-makers.

To give just one example of the exemplary nature of their approach, in Lithuania there is an eternal fire, kept burning day and night since the fall of the USSR, and rekindled in a place known only to a handful of people after having been extinguished 600 years earlier when the country was Christianised.

No photos or photographs had ever been taken in this secret location. More than 200 people take it in turns to keep the fire alive, some from Belarus, others from Poland, Germany, Latvia and the whole of Lithuania.

These cultural embers are allegorical. Taking an interest in the Baltic roots and the revival of these ancestral cultures also means thinking about our own. Telling the story of how these men and women maintain their own traditions is a way of inspiring us all to do the same. Because nature and culture are linked. You can’t preserve one without the other.

THE PROJECT: WHO?
Sophie Planque and Jérémy Vaugeois

> SOPHIE PLANQUE has been an author and director for French television for 13 years as well as a professional photographer. She is also a member of the Society of French Explorers. His work focuses on the nature/culture relationship, intergenerational transmission and the history of exploration. His work has received multiple awards at the UN and festivals. She combines expedition and production to produce cultural immersion documentaries.

> JÉRÉMY VAUGEOIS is an adventurer, professional drone pilot and photographer. He works for French television. 15 years of exploration and more than 70,000km on foot, by bike or on skis around the planet have given him a sensitive view of the world. A unique experience that he shares with passion through numerous stories and exchanges. In 2016, he co-founded the Parcours la Planète association which supports school learning for thousands of students in France and abroad.

THE BOOK

• Size 280x250mm – landscape – 176 pages
• Paper: Munken Kristall rough 150g, printed 4+4 (22×8 pages) in H-UV (printed in France)
• 100 photos

Environmental responsibility >>> Printing will only use noble materials and in particular paper from sustainably managed forests and produced in compliance with FSC and PEFC standards, in order to limit its footprint on the environment.

A WORD FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

• A film and a book

Between still and moving images, the murmurs complement each other and intermingle in a vaporous dance. Aux Pays des Brumes is a call from the heart that has been in gestation for just over two years. We wanted to give birth to two magnificent projects: a film and a beautiful book. Aux Pays des Brumes, un hiver balte, the 52-minute documentary, will soon be broadcast on Arte, and is already starting a major festival tour, with the first dates being :

– Les Écrans de l’Aventure, Dijon, 13 October 2023 at 9.30pm
– Le Grand Bivouac, Albertville, 20 and 22 October at 10.45 am
– Le Fifav, La Rochelle, 18 November 2023 at 6.45pm

– More dates to come…

• Senses

When you live outdoors, your senses are heightened and intensified. By offering moving images in a documentary film and frozen moments in a photographic work, we give you the chance to awaken your own senses.

It means being yourself in this misty forest and feeling the icy mist invade you.

Touch the paper, feel the forest. Then take in the gaze of the white-tailed eagle and overlook the dense, wild nature so dear to the Baltic people.

Silence is visual in this other part of the Baltic. Arranging these still images in a book is another way of narrating Baltic thought through a rhythm, sequences and pauses, just as you would construct a film. Just as we do on our expeditions.

• The quest for excellence

To work on our book, we chose to work with the goldsmiths of photoengraving and printing who work with Vincent Munier, Laurent Ballesta and Caroline Riegel, among others. These are the young publishing house HEMERIA and Printmodel, who will ensure the exceptional quality of this beautiful tribute work.

We would like to pay a profound tribute to the Baltic peoples, who do not live in hope of tomorrow but in the intensity of the moment. Their messages are full of wisdom. An inspiration we are all sure to need today.

The documentary film >> discover the movie poster

ART PRINTS AVAILABLE
Special prices, only during this campaign 

Size 24×30 – 30×40 (not signed, not numbered)
From Photo A to Photo J (10 photos available)

Size 40×60 – 60×90 – 80×120 – Fine Art Prints (signed and numbered)
From Photo K to Photo ZD (20 photos available)