The high-diving sequence from the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, with a view of the Eiffel Tower, was the event not to be missed during the first week of the European Aquatics Championships in France. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Aurelien Morissard is a freelance photojournalist who has been working regularly for The Associated Press in France since 2022. He shared the story behind this extraordinary photo.
Behind the shot
Morissard knew there was something really beautiful to create with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The challenge was getting access to the right locations. Initially, they were offered some positions that weren't particularly exciting. So, they negotiated to get access to different photographer positions during the divers' training sessions. That's when he took this photograph.
On the official competition day, they wouldn't have had access to that location. That day, they only had 30 minutes to take photos. The impact with the water is so intense that the divers can't do too many jumps during their training.
Finding the frame
At first, they were slightly off axis from the diving platform. The photos were beautiful, but not spectacular enough. So Morissard positioned himself on the 10-meter platform, underneath the 20-meter platform where the divers were training, to have the divers falling more directly in line with the Eiffel Tower.
The dive happens extremely quickly, and the most beautiful part of the diver's movement is at the very beginning of the jump. He set his camera with a relatively narrow aperture to retain as much detail as possible, and used a sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the movement. From his position, the fall lasts barely three seconds, so you have to react immediately.
Favorite shot
Of all the photos he took during the training sessions and the competition, this one is his favorite. It's minimalist: you only see part of the Eiffel Tower, some clouds, and a diver who looks like an angel — or a bird — with his arms wide open.
Morissard said he would have already loved the photograph with just this section of the Eiffel Tower, but by adding the diver to the composition, the image takes on a whole new artistic dimension.