Copyright Pierre Terdjman www.pierreterdjman.com
caption: Demonstrations and riots in Center Tunis..After 5O years of repression,the Tunisian people can enjoy the right of demonstrating on the streets.
Let’s introduce our « photoguru »: Pierre Terdjman
Several groups have already done a classic biography of Pierre Terdjman, so we decided since we saw him two times in Perpignan and in Paris to draw a more personal portrait of this young photo journalist (impossible to find his birth date…he’s may be a man without age!) When we first met Pierre Terdjman (who is now our “photoguru”) at “Visa pour l’image”, he told us that ads influenced teenagers a lot. He said we were blind to the world because we were slaves of marketing, as evidence he underlines that everybody in our group was wearing the same brands like Ray Ban, Levi’s. This speech was right but it first chocked us because we’re aware about what’s up in the world!… Then we took a closer look to what Pierre was wearing! … And in our big surprise, he was wearing all the brands he was just talking about! Worse, he took his blackberry proudly out of his jacket (that’s absolutely forbidden at school by our dear teacher !). And the cherry on the cake: he was always playing with his ray ban’s sunglasses. Paradoxical isn’t it? 😉 But we are gentle.. so we forgave our “photo guru”!
Pierre Terdjman also told us about his job: he just arrived from Haiti and told us the horror about the earthquake and its aftermaths on the population. According to him, we understood that photojournalism is a dangerous job, where you have to take a lot of risks. Thanks to photojournalists , people can have a better view of the world . More, you have to do this job if and only if you’re passionate, because your financial situation is not stable at all: photo reporters are slaves of newspapers who want catchy and illustrative shots….or worse… people shots….for example NicoCarla! 🙁 So we can say that photoreporters don’t earn much money, because they’ve to pay all of their equipment, their travels… But it doesn’t matter..passion and information are more important! That’s a beautiful project! Photojournalists are often freelance, some are under contract with agency , they send their pictures to newspapers without any certitude to be published. One shot of Pierre Terdjman about the Jasmine Revolution has been used for the cover of Figaro Magazine. Congratulations!
Analysis of the picture
The perspective lines focus our look on the soldier kneel down behind the thank, they’re forming a vanishing triangle . Indeed the perspective lines join themselves in this triangle. We also noticed that the rule of third is respected in this front shot and the triangle is in the first third of the picture (in the left). The way the picture is taken makes us believe that the soldier in the front is crashed by the tank but he is actually sitting next to or behind it. We can also believe that thank and soldier are belonging to the same body. Pierre Terdjman chose the black and white instead of a colored picture to emphasize that feeling. In this shot, there’s no events happening , the picture shows the peacefulness of the streets of the Tunisian capital but the presence of the army suggest that something is going to happen , it’s quiet but a threat remains. The fact that we don’t know in what exact moment the picture was taken makes us wonder if that’s the quiet before the riots or after or maybe during the curfew. The shot shows the huge weight of the army in the Jasmine revolution. Tunision started on January 14, people protest against poverty, corruption, lack of democracy and autocratic governement of Ben Ali.Thousands of people demonstrated in Tunis claiming that President Zine al- Abidine Ben Ali leave office immediately…And Ben Ali left the country. The successful uprising in Tunisia is inspiring all the arab countries.
Boistard Alice, Jarrar Emira (improving in geography!!)
Political background in Tunisia
In 1869, Tunisia declared itself bankrupt so the country became a French Protectorate in 1883 until its independence in 1956. Its first president was Habib Bourguiba replaced in 1987 by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisia is a constitutional republic, with a president serving as chief of state, prime minister as head of government, a bicameral legislature and a court system influenced by French civil law. Ben Ali governed until 2011. Indeed he was ousted of Tunisia by the now well-known Jasmine Revolution led by the Tunisian population. The riots surprised everybody and started with the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi and ended with the leaving of Ben Ali. The riots were so important that the Tunisian army had to get involved in this revolution to secure the population and arrest all the collaborators of Ben Ali who left as orders to his Militia to destroy and scare the population in order for him to come back to the government and be like a hero by stopping the riots and the violence
Une réponse à TUNIS REVOLUTION