Baptiste Deturche 🇫🇷

Born and living in Haute-Savoie, I am a true enthusiast of the Northern Alps 😉

Having always lived surrounded by mountains and lulled by forest wanderings with my father, I started to take a serious interest in creatures, big and small, quite early on.

I grew up in a very fertile environment regarding interest in nature as a whole. My grandfather, a farmer and son of farmers, my father, connected to the land through his mushroom hunting, forest maintenance, fishing, etc. All of this in the incredible setting of Haute Savoie

So I directed my studies in this direction and it was at university that I met a guy from the neighboring valley who really introduced me to wildlife imagery. After that, everything went very fast and today I have released my second film, Le Pari, for cinema and I am now working on two new projects.

For me, wildlife cinema is truly the way I found to contribute to environmental preservation. With images, you can convey a huge amount of messages while touching the viewer.

My motto remains “make known to make loved to make protected, because we only protect what we love.”

Hiking

My profession?

I am an independent wildlife filmmaker, a term that covers many roles: director, cameraman, editor, screenwriter, producer, etc., because I have chosen to make films that speak to me, without constraints and close to my heart.

Being independent allows me to freely express my convictions, passion, ethics, and creativity.

I see this profession as a communication tool to preserve the wild. Through my images, at cinema screenings, festivals, or in schools, I hope to reach viewers and give them keys to understanding so they can also participate in wildlife conservation.

I travel a lot for this job, but I tend to return to my roots and talk about what moves me, what made me: the mountains and wildlife of France.

Finally, I place great importance on ethics in creating my images. No tricks are used to attract animals (baiting, calling, decoys, scratching, etc.); the subject is the animal, they are not actors and honestly, they don’t care about being filmed, so the least we can do is respect them and not disturb them.

My relationship with the mountain?

For me, the mountain is a school, a place to live, and an experience.

It is a school because it teaches us to know ourselves and especially to put our ego aside. It sets the limits and no matter what we do, in the end, it is the mountain that decides.

It is a place to live because it hosts incredible, fascinating, fragile, and magnificent biodiversity. From flowers growing in rocky scree in mysterious ways, to large predators, to small birds crossing continents to find refuge, or even wild rites carried out for tens of thousands of years... what happens up there is just amazing.

Finally, the mountain is an experience for all that I have just mentioned. It can range from an incredible sunrise over Mont Blanc to a tricky thunderstorm situation, to the spring display of the black grouse.

My biggest dream?

May humanity finally become aware of the importance of caring for our ecosystems and finally put aside our oversized ego to live in harmony with the wild once again. We absolutely need the wild, but it does not need us.

Catch-up session

Why choose Lagoped?

I said it, I am patriotic, so I might as well tell you that if I can equip myself and support activities born in the area, I do it!

Besides, the guiding principle of Lagoped appeals to me and resonates with my vision of things.

Finally, in the context of my work, I need very specific equipment; my specialization in mountain or northern wildlife photography leads me to find myself in conditions where quality equipment is necessary.

Lagoped checks all the boxes. I am proud to be part of this family.

To finish, in this July 2024, the upcoming projects are two films about two different wolves. And one of the films will even be in collaboration with another member of the Lagoped family: Corentin Esmieu.

As for the rest, it’s about finishing bringing my film Le Pari to life and starting to think about a project that might be a bit too ambitious for me at the moment 🤣