On land or underwater?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros Underwater, of course! For that feeling of weightlessness, freedom, ramblingâeuros¦ and I advise any fisherman to try the experience.
Camera or video camera?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros These are two very distinct fields. I will choose photography because I like to freeze the moment, to share an interaction, where the spectator can contemplate at his ease and as long as he wishes the atmosphere that I wanted to immortalize. I also paint and there is in the photo this notion of "painting", of composition with colors. The video allows me to retranscribe the captured moment more faithfully, but I find that it is more ephemeral, although just as exciting.
Block or snorkel?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros Snorkel, for the freedom it allows underwater. But I recently tried rebreather diving (closed circuit with oxygen and air tanks, which allows you to stay several hours at depth without making bubbles) and it is a very complementary technique to freediving, which I intend to pursue in the next seasons.
Closed water or river?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros River. I like the current, I like to let myself go downstream, to watch the fish go upstream, and to feel the flow of the water.
What is your favorite season?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros Spring because everything wakes up and the water is rather clear. Summer is also interesting but often more complicated in terms of conditions. The water level of the rivers is generally lower, the algal development can be important. And in the fall, if there was no rain during the summer, it is even more complicated to have beautiful environments.
What is the best time of day to make images?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros Underwater? Unlike the photo on land, when the sun is at its zenith! The sun gives all its colors to the aquatic life.
Which freshwater species are you particularly fond of?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros Not surprisingly, the pike! (laughs) First of all, because we like what we know and I have experienced a lot of interactions with this species over the last few years. Many memories of beautiful encounters with this freshwater predator of which I had the chance to film all the phases of its life cycle. It is a fish that is looking for itself!
What is your best memory of freshwater diving?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros My encounter with the shadows. I often talk about it. Two days of immersion in the Moselle River in very cold water at the end of winter in search of grayling, a species I knew little about at the time. I couldn't get near them at the beginning, the fish were running away. As much as pike "look for themselves", salmonids are observed on the lookout. I then settled down. I found the right current, the right water vein, the right depth, the right position. I waited and the fish came. 6 shadows stayed with me for about 30 minutes, I almost cried through my mask, it was so beautiful! (laughs)
Your funniest mishap?
Anne-Cécile Monnier âeuros This is not really a misadventure but it is rather funny. I was in the Ornain, a river of Lorraine well known by fly fishermen. I was trying to capture a small trout camouflaged in the middle of a school of minnows. It took me a long time. I didn't move for very long minutes. I was lying in 30 cm of water. There was nobody around me and suddenly I hear, like this, "But he is dead? Â". I turn around slowly, just a little mask on the side to see what it was, and there I see a fly fisherman standing on the bank with a fishery guard at his side checking him. The fisherman replies to the guard, "No no, he moved 15 minutes ago. (laughs) On the one hand I was rather reassured that thanks to my suit and my hood, I was taken for a man in this remote place, and on the other hand they didn't come to talk to me so I pretended I hadn't heard anything and I continued to make my pictures, because I couldn't miss the appearance of this famous trout!
