Baptiste Paquot, 24, worked for the sports daily between 2021 and the start of this summer. His credit was even found on a few front pages. Returning home with a memory card full of great moments, the photographer from Nuits-Saint-Georges delivers for DijonBeaune.fr son best-of The Team.
A rider prepares to overcome an obstacle during the cross-country event counting for the CCI4* eventing competition, at the Pompadour racecourse. © Baptiste Paquot / L’Equipe
📷 April 13, 2021, 8:41 a.m. – Pompadour Racecourse
There’s more than just football in life. Especially not at The Team. One of my first images for everyday life was this cross-country event, as part of the CCI4* eventing competition organized in Corrèze. The sun rises over the Pompadour racecourse. I spot this obstacle gradually being covered by the sun, giving me a nice backlight. After several riders, I obtain the desired photo, with the sun piercing the silhouette and its prancing horse.
Laura Rogora (ITA) climbs to the top of the route during the final of the Difficulty World Cup in Chamonix. © Baptiste Paquot / L’Equipe
📷 13 juillet 2021, 20h54 – Chamonix
Final of the World Cup of difficulty, just before the Tokyo Olympics. With its 18 meter wall facing Mont-Blanc, the event offers climbers a setting worthy of their art. The Italian Laura Rogora, 20, climbs to the top of the route. None of its competitors made it, even though the conditions were dire: a real storm giving way to downpours at the end of the afternoon. In the image, the last rays of the sun sneak up to the top of the mountain. The humidity caused the misty masses to descend. The tight framing would almost form a continuity between the wall and the mountain.
Reception of the Ukrainian national handball team at Le Havre town hall by Edouard Philippe. Speech and national anthem rich in emotion. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 April 22, 2022, 11:58 a.m. – Le Havre Town Hall
Euro handball 2022 qualifiers. For the first time since the Russian invasion, a Ukrainian national team is playing in France. The trip and stay were financed by the French Federation. Invited to the town hall by Édouard Philippe, players and staff have closed faces. Silence forms a kind of gravity. After several speeches, the two teams sing their anthem, set to music by young students from the local Conservatory. That of Ukraine (“ Neither the glory nor the freedom of Ukraine is dead / For our freedom we will give our souls and bodies “) brings tears to the eyes. Is there a need to add more?
Red Bull Cliff Diving, the famous annual high-flying diving competition, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 18 juin 2022, 15h36 – Red Bull Cliff Diving Paris 2022
I really like this photo because it represents the soul of Paris as I imagined it before working there. The circumstances are a bit unusual: Red Bull Cliff Diving is stopping in the capital for the first time since its creation in 2009. Facing the Eiffel Tower, at the Debilly port, madmen jump from a 27-meter platform and finish their aerobatics at 85 km/h in the Seine in front of 25,000 people. The Debilly footbridge was packed with people, fortunately the organization had reserved a small area for photographers…
After a gala tour in the United States, Victor Wembanyama returns to business in Betclic Elite and dunks on the heads of the players at Le Mans. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 October 15, 2022, 9:11 p.m. – Salle Antarès (Le Mans)
5th day of Betclic Elite, Victor Wembanyama in his works. Led throughout the match by Le Mans, his Boulogne-Levallois team ended up winning after extra time (89-94). Wemby will score 24 points, between a demonstration of power and finesse. I had the opportunity to follow him on several occasions, in training and in matches. A fundamentally nice guy, very accessible, logically less so at the end of the season given the general enthusiasm. On the pitch, he exudes an impressive elegance despite his 2.26m under the height chart.
Kylian Mbappé during the 2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony. © Baptiste Paquot / L’Équipe
📷 October 17, 2022, 8:01 p.m. – Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris)
« Kylian! Kylian! This way ! To the left ! To the right ! » From one French star to another. Kylian Mbappé walks the red carpet at the Ballon d’Or, where he will finish in sixth place. The photo seems banal, I had 30 photographers around and ten seconds to shoot, but I like it. Mbappé is true to himself, between confidence and humility, with his hands wisely folded back-to-school style. We all have the cliché of not very smart football players, on the contrary I find that he is very smart. From an aesthetic point of view, having played several PSG matches, the guy is interesting. Already, he seems inhabited by this sport. And he always has a very expressive face, some pretty funny little gimmicks to pull off.
Floriane André and Cléopâtre Darleux during the 2022 women’s handball Euro, which will see the Blues stop in the semi-final against Norway. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 November 10, 2022, 11:40 a.m. – Skopje (North Macedonia)
The women’s handball Euro is the greatest experience of my time at The Team. My first major trip for the newspaper, three weeks in the privacy of one of the best teams in the world. In this context, the portrait exercise, to be completed in a few minutes, in fairly standard hotels, is not always simple. My journalist partner Anouk Corge, my most beautiful meeting at the newspaper, who has followed the French handball teams for more than 30 years, wanted to tell the crossed story of the two goalkeepers, Cléopâtre Darleux and the young Floriane André. With the marble checkerboard at the entrance to the hotel, I presented them as two towers of a chessboard. Positioned on the second floor, I carried my voice to try to guide them… It didn’t take much in the end!
Ethan Dumortier’s try against Scotland, during the Six Nations tournament won by the Blues. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 February 26, 2023, 4:11 p.m. – Stade de France
My first match for the French XV, during the Six Nations tournament, against Scotland (32-21). I lived this moment to the fullest, as a rugby enthusiast, after starting this job voluntarily six years ago at CS Nuits. Ethan Dumortier’s final try, in the 8th minute, could not escape my box installed at the start of the match and triggered remotely.
Arthur Retière, Nuton pride, rebukes a tackle from a Racing player. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 March 5, 2023, 9:17 p.m. – Paris La Défense Arena
Rugby still, at the end of the twentieth day of Top 14. At the end of a crazy match, with five tries on each side, Toulouse beat Racing (35-39). A very special moment to see Arthur Retière at the highest level, the first CSN player to have made it as a professional, then imitated by Gervais Cordin (editor’s note, who has just signed for Biarritz in Pro D2) and his little brother Edgar. I still remember his photo and his updated list of results throughout the matches at the Nuits-Saint-Georges driving school! I have already taken photos of the Retières at the family domain (domaine Gavignet-Bethanie), it’s always nice to meet a known face on the pitch and say hello at the end of the match.
The Paris Marathon brings together 45,000 people and gives rise, at the end of the effort, to beautiful and simple scenes. © Baptiste Paquot / The Team
📷 April 2, 2023, 11:57 a.m. – Place du Trocadéro
Being a sports photographer isn’t just about stars and big stadiums. The Paris Marathon cultivates a different state of mind. It brings together both professionals and amateurs. Nearly 45,000 participants from all over the world. Those who run know the feeling of encouragement or a helping hand. This image clearly illustrates this sense of sharing and this respect for effort.
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