Photojournalism

These fantastic trips and photojournalism journey ended-up being a super start into professional photography!

Julien Thomas

Photojournalism is Julien’s first passion in photography, and when he started this journey he was anything but a photographer. Photography was simply to take ordinary photo souvenirs of his great trips and beloved adventures.

His remarkable photojournalism journey started in 2010 when he arrived to Southeast Asia. At that time he was just continuing his on-going 10 years of travel experience to another continent, arriving here as a seasoned traveler. Far from any will to show off online, Julien is the type of person who has always traveled for no one but himself.

This new continent has been amazing to him, related to off-the-beaten-track travels and adventures he was only looking for. His new journey and desires were focused on freedom, to seek real adventures, discover ways of life in remote villages and visit world heritage sites.

He came a few times to travel in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. His photojournalism shots; his humble photo souvenirs are all about documentary and candid photography, slightly reflecting some of the new and pure travel experiences in the remote areas he steeped in.

Note that Julien spent more than 1 year wild camping during this journey!!

Freedom

First time in Southeast Asia (in 2010) and jumping on buses to visit all around? No way.

Freedom and to be autonomous were non-negotiable conditions for the seasoned traveler Julien was.
Traveling here was only for him to have his own transport, paper maps, compass, tent and a camera.

This lifestyle was/is Julien’s passion in travel & adventure.

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People & Heritage

The leg of his trips was focused on the discovery of any aspects related to the ways of life in countrysides and world heritage sites.

Between his places to visit, Julien could reach them in a few days, or weeks! It depended on whether he decided to turn left or right at a dirt road crossing, if he came to spend a couple of days with country people inviting him to their homes, if his moto broke down, etc.
Anyway, travelers like him always knows where they are heading – all roads lead to Rome.

Wild Camping

No hotels in the countrysides? Great, let’s camp!

For his first trip, Julien was camping in pagodas at nights. He slept in many, many of them.

Along his next trips, he began to camp more often in the middle of welcoming hamlets, and just wild camping in his 100k stars hotel/tent wherever he felt like it.

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Photo Gallery

Local Life Landscape Heritage Black & White Flashback! All

Photo Exhibitions

During those years, Julien never expected some of his souvenir photos to turn into great photojournalism shots.

After some of his trips, he sometimes came back to France/home and started doing photo exhibitions in restaurants, cinema halls and music festivals.

2014 was a great step for him in travel and photography.
As a speaker, he joined the largest traveler’s event in France, and also won first prize their photo contest!
Other than this contest was his very first one, Julien found really interesting that one of his humble souvenir photos made a buzz. 🥇

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SUD OUEST

August 2012

L'Hebdo 17

September 2012

ABM Blog

October 2012

Vidici Magazine

December 2013

ABM Magazine

July 2013

SUD OUEST

May 2014

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Press Releases

Between 2012 and 2014, several articles in local French newspapers and magazines have talked about the unconventional trips and great photos Julien was doing.

This opposite article and this one can be viewed on the newspaper/Sud-Ouest website.

Between Travels and Adventures

Julien is 100% fine to say that he always sought to travel in areas where tourists don’t go.

During his trips, his daily concerns had nothing to compare with those of backpackers and expats. Looking for a wild camping spot because night is coming, has nothing to do with looking for a bar for yourself and friends, or what to do for the next weekend, or Facebook’ recommendations like ‘where to eat the best steak in town’, etc.!!

The language barrier was also real during his travels and adventures, and he always embrassed this aspect. Did Julien spoke the languages of the countries where he went? Barely some survival words! Do country people speaks English? Not at all!

De facto, this barrier was making his experiences really authentic with everyone he was encountering. Taking into consideration things like who is the first person steeping forward to meet him, attention to eye contact and facial expressions, who looks curious and scared about him, etc., were crucial elements to take in consideration to have the best and safest experiences among the people he was encountering.
During months and months, and months of living such situations, Julien’s travels and adventures turned out to be extremely rich in terms of human experiences.

Do the people he have met and photographed (also the kids) had ever spent time with a westerner before him? Maybe not for the most of them.
So yes, taking photojournalism shots wasn’t the goal of his trips. First of all, they meant to be (and simply are) part of his beloved souvenirs and travel experiences on this new continent!

Find Julien's first website/blog www.bluesky-travel.fr where days & sky are always blue!

— “That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes, “he added,” there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day.”

—The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupéry