Set off for New Caledonia in the company of photographer Pierre-Alain Pantz, who captured all these happy faces on camera while paying another visit to the archipelago that he is so fond of.
Face of the Loyalty Islands, reflections of the different Polynesian influences that have marked their history.
Isle of Pines - Vao
A fleeting glance, a furtive exchange that filled my eyes with joy.
Isle of Pines - Vao
This magnificent face, its features finely chiselled in the morning light, caught my eye at once.
Nouméa
I was so unsettled by this boy's scrutinising gaze that I only took a single shot.
I will never know what these little girls from Lifou found so funny.
In the coolness of a traditional hut in Ouvéa, an angel sleeps on a braided floor mat.
Nouméa
I often sit down when I take photos of children so they can tower over me...
Isle of Pines - Wapan Dancer
I like the pride of this very young dancer from Isle of Pines as he performs the dance of the ghost fishermen.
Back from the dance, a splendid colourful encounter at Kanumera Bay on Isle of Pines.
Atéou Tribe - North Province
I have always liked it when a backlight bathes a face in a halo of light.
Isle of Pines
Like a ray of sunshine!
Compulsory "dress code"! Every year Caledonia dresses up as the Far West for the Bourail agricultural fair.
A bike with giant wheels seemed to terrorise this little boy from Isle of Pines
Zoom in:
By Pierre-Alain Pantz
Pierre-Alain Pantz discovered New Caledonia and its light at the age of ten. As an adult, he set off, camera in hand, to explore the world: Africa, America, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean basin.
