French, b. 1955
Pascal Maitre was born in the village of Buzançais in the centre middle of France and studied psychology before starting his career in photojournalism in 1979 with the Jeune Afrique magazine. In 1984 he joined Gamma agency and in 1989 he co-founded the photo agency Odyssey Images.
Over the past four decades, Pascal has documented the life, politics, conflicts, traditions and the natural environment of over 40 countries across Africa. In 1985 he started to document Afghanistan through the troubled years of the Mujahideen fight against Soviet occupation to the internecine wars of the 1990s, the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 1996 and the campaigns of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the ‘Lion of Panjshir’. He has also worked in Russia, the Middle East, Latin America and various other regions. Africa, however, remains the region he is most passionate about.
He has published numerous books, including In the Heart of Africa and Madagascar: Travels in a World Apart which gathers images from 15 years of working across the continent.
Over the years, Pascal has won innumerable awards for his photographic work including World Press Photo awards and the Visa d’or d’honneur/Figaro Magazine Award at the Visa pour l’Image photo festival in Perpignan, France.
He has exhibited in all over France – from Visa pour l’Image and the Maison Européenne de la Photography in France to the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Geological Museum in Moscow.
His work has been published all over the world in magazines including GEO, Figaro, Newsweek, Life, Paris Match, National Geographic, The New York Times and many more.
Pascal lives southwest of Paris, France.