After the craze of Paris Olympics, no question of letting it fall back gaming fever : make way for the Paralympics! The opening ceremony orchestrated by Thomas Jolly, which will take place on August 28 on the Champs Elysées and on the Place de la Concorde, will mark their kick-off. The perfect moment for Analog Sport, an association led by Léo Cochin and his colleagues, to reveal a photo book retracing the itineraries and aspirations of 10 para-athletes, with the rigor and aesthetics specific to photography of sportChallenges that are sometimes out of the ordinary, sometimes banal, immortalized by the images and words of those concerned.

Agathe Pauli (swimming)

Alexis Sanchez (rowing)

Analog, an associative project aiming to train young people in film sports photography

Addressing the subject of disability in the sport to put the spotlight on para-athletes participating in the Jeux Olympiques, it is in the DNA of Analog Sport, a project launched in 2020, just before the lockdown. Since its creation, Léo Cochin has not lost sight of his goal of training young students in photography every year, free of charge. sport in film, more complex than digital photography. For the manager, this approach is deliberately demanding. Old-school photography requires, before improving, to spend time on the basics, it forces the photographer to work on his eye. As a result, if tomorrow students want to move on to digital photography, they will already be better ", explains the person concerned.
Each year, the class that follows the training carries out various sports photography projects, including a collective work during the summer, then the works are exhibited at the end of the year. Budding photographers are sometimes called upon for campaigns in the big league: for OM, Puma… Support and opportunities to demystify the world of photography and which gives some the desire to take a step forward and take the step towards professionalization. This is the case for around ten apprentices from the ranks of Analog Sport, since the creation of the program.

Para-sport, a field of excellence and performance, devoted to this collection of photographs and testimonies from para-athletes

This project is the result of a carte blanche offered by the Representation of the European Commission to Analog Sport to highlight 10 para-athletes, their careers, their relationship to sport and their discipline, and documents their training. 200 pages, including many photos immortalizing their effort in exercise, and interviews, remarks transcribed during privileged moments with these protagonists. Disability is sometimes addressed, and some athletes testify to their point of view on the place of disability in society. But never too directly, and in a setting conducive to a warm discussion, avoiding a discourse unfortunately still too present on disability and "resilience", sometimes tinged with miserabilism and ableism. We go and get them, we listen to what they have to say, and we address the issue of disability as the discussion progresses if the athlete wants to talk about it. ", explains Léo Cochin.

For the head of Analog, there is nothing like photography to celebrate para-sport. A fairly simple, low-energy gateway that stimulates curiosity… and which directly appeals to our visual imagination, which is still too little exposed to para-sport. Showing the public photos of para-athletes is to broaden their point of view, enrich their experience… it is to ensure that if I talk to you about rowing, for example, you are also unconsciously able to imagine para-rowing athletes. It is also showing images of para-athletes who, just by looking at the photo, would not suggest that they have a disability, and that we can say to ourselves that we are simply looking at a sports photo, without the condition of athlete or para-athlete taking precedence. ". Everything is brought together in a beautiful object, with an artistic and aesthetic aim, to experience these Paralympic Games with stars in your eyes.

Analog Sport is organizing the book release party on August 31 at 16 p.m. in its gallery located at 3-5 rue de Metz, 75010 Paris.