Didier Lefèvre (1957–2007) was a French

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

. His photos have appeared in many French magazines, including ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' and '. He was best known for co-authoring with

Emmanuel Guibert Emmanuel Guibert (born April 21, 1964, in Paris) is a French comics artist and writer. For his work, he has been awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême. Biography After a short period in art ...

the book ''

The Photographer A photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and ty ...

'', which told the story of his travels with a

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...

mission during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. Lefèvre shot more than 4,000 photos on his 1986 MSF mission. He suffered from chronic furunculosis; he lost fourteen teeth after the MSF mission as a consequence of malnutrition, exhaustion, and stress from his experiences. Nonetheless, Lefèvre returned to Afghanistan seven more times later in life.Wolk, Douglas
"Book Review: 'The Photographer' By Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre and Frédéric Lemercier,"
''The Washington Post'' (31 May 2009) Lefèvre was trained as a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

.Thierry Lefebvre, " Mort d'un pharmacien photographe " (in French), ''Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie'', vol. 95, n o 357, 2008, p. 85-86 . He died from heart failure on 29 January 2007 at the age of 49.

Awards

* 2004: Prix des libraires de bande dessinée for ''The Photographer'' (with Lemercier and Guibert ) * 2007:

Angoulême International Comics Festival Essentials Les Essentiels d'Angoulême ("The Essentials of Angoulême") is a comics award chosen by the jury of the Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Eur ...

for ''The Photographer'' (with Guibert et Lemercier) * 2007: Globes de Cristal Award for Best Comic Book for ''The Photographer'' (with Guibert et Lemercier) * 2010: Eisner Award for ''The Photographer'' (with Guibert)

References

1957 births 2007 deaths French photographers Photography in Afghanistan {{France-photographer-stub