Passion Le Mans by Christophe Wilmart/Denis Boussard – Review

Monday, September 3rd, 2012

Home » Blog » Passion Le Mans by Christophe Wilmart/Denis Boussard – Review

I first came across the work of Denis Boussard during my trip to Paris when I visited the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie. I found a small magazine leaflet called Gueule d’ange which had a special feature on Boussard’s No Limits book, where he photographed people and cars at the Speedweek on the Bonneville salt lake. Despite this magazine being all in French, I could pick up enough to deduce that the photographs were all captured on film, using a Rollieflex camera.

I’ve recently become a fan of 6×6, and this book certainly cemented it as my favourate format to shoot with. After returning from Paris, I ordered a copy of the Passion Le Mans book from Amazon.

First impressions

I was immediately blown away with the quality of the book, and the photographs within. The book is 8 inches square, which obviously fits the format really well. All of the photographs are in black and white, with unbilivable image quality throughout. Even the night shots appear to be sharp with little grain, show just how good film photography can be.

The front cover of the Passion Le Mans book. It is a hard back, and is 8 inches square which naturally lends itself to the format of the images.

There are actually two events photographed in the book, namely the Le Mans and Le Mans Classic. This provides Boussard with an opportunity to compare the modern, high tech Le Mans prototype cars with the classic and vintage machinery used in the Classic. Often pages will have photographs with the same framing, but with contrasting eras of cars. This is a theme throughout the book, and is used to great effect.

Showing the contrasts

There is some narrative to the book, with the photographs progressing through the races. These are interspersed with contrasting photographs of people working in the pits, waiting around and fixing cars. Initially shots are of the glamorous parts of the weekend, with photographers and grid girls at work, before preparation of the cars starts and the race begins.

Cars in garages in the Passion Le Mans book

The book uses contrasting photos throughout, like here showing the difference between the vintage and modern machinery.

These shots work really well, and there are some photographs that are simply shown in isolation. There are a lot of portraits of people working in the pitlane, fixing cars and a few of significant drivers from the world of Le Mans.

Beautiful machinery

The cars also feature heavily, with many of the classic Ford, Porsche, Corvette and prototype cars pictured in the book. There is a variety of framing styles used, from static shots to panning and action compositions, as well as photographs of iconic sections of the track.

The cars are the stars – but so are the mechanics and drivers to work with them to succeed at Le Mans.

What I find most intriguing about this book is the mix of man and machine working together for the entirety of the 24 hour race. Mechanics climbing over cars, and dismantling large mechanical parts to try and win in their class or beat their competitors really shows what the race is all about.

Drivers, start your engines

The contrasting themes continue with drivers in their cars, showing the difference between the professional races in the modern Le Mans series, and the enthusiast and quite often senior racers of the classic and vintage cars.

Le Mans drivers contrasted in the Passion Le Mans book

The characters of Le Mans drivers feature throughout the book.

The forward of the book is by Jacky Ickx, who is photographed on the inside cover page. Having this additional insight into the experiences of veteran races gives the book an extra level of depth, communicating to the reader about what it is like to race in the most prestigious motoracing event on Earth. These little touches really add to the experience for anyone, like me, who has not been to see the racing at Le Mans.

Image quality

The quality of the photographs in this book is simply stunning. The tones, contrast and level of detail that the film has managed to capture really is astonishing. Every fold, stitch and weave of the mechanics clothing is captured. There’s a real depth from the images in Passion Le Mans, giving it a very ‘human’ feel when combined with the portraits of mechanics and drivers.

The level of detail in the images in Passion Le Mans is breathtaking. The sharpness and tonal range from the photographs is unlike any other motorsports book I have seen.

To conclude…

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of either motorsport, photograph or Le Mans. Boussand and Wilmart have created a stunning photographic record of the most famous race on the motorsport calendar. Their combination of action, portraiture, description of the event and testimonials from drivers combines to create a very satisfying visual experience.

The verdict: An extraordinary book for film photographers and motorsports fans: 10/10