The anecdote is signed by Anthony Villeneuve, then head of the agency Republican Lorrain in Thionville, and evokes the last passage of the Tour de France cyclist in Moselle Nord, in 2017. “The spectators gathered on the side of the road, and who recognized him at the wheel of his car in the colors of the RL, applauded him as much, if not more, than the runners. It was incredible, ”he recalls. A picture is worth more than 1,000 words, as we usually say in our journalistic jargon. This shows how our reporter-photographer Pierre Heckler, with his good face, his good nature, his laughing eyes, his distant hair tucked back and his eternal bottle of water tucked away in his jacket pocket, is has become over time a sort of icon in the Thionville basin. This child from Phalsbourg landed there in 1995, after visits to our agencies in Sarreguemines and Luxembourg. He quickly developed an affection for this sector, despite its sky so low that a canal was lost and where, wherever you are, you can see the four towers of the Cattenom nuclear power plant.
–
“I have always liked the contacts”
“The real journey is not looking for new landscapes but a new perspective”. Pierre made this phrase of Marcel Proust his own throughout his career at Republican Lorrain , started in 1984 and to which it will end on December 20. “I have always loved the contact with people and thanks to the newspaper I have been served. I had the chance to meet extraordinary people, to report in Bosnia or in Kosovo, then in conflict. But what I liked best of all is when people lay bare in front of us, when they open their hearts to us. I can’t help it, it’s my nature, but I love people deeply. And people give him back. Even if on the ground, all those he photographed were sometimes surprised or even taken aback to see him crawling or climbing on a table, if not a scaffolding, to take the most beautiful picture possible. “I have never taken a photo at the height of a man, it is useless to make an image that everyone has already seen”, explains our contortionist photographer, a bit of a die-hard and above all a perfectionist when it was about making portraits.
–
A touch of humanity in every photo
“In my entire career, I have NEVER taken a photo automatically but always manually,” he also prides himself. But his greatest quality in his work, besides being a wonderful traveling companion and, in all circumstances, a wonderful comrade, is to have, for each photo, succeeded in infusing it with a touch of humanity. . As our former sports correspondent and friend Jean-Pierre Lehousse said, “at Pierre the image breathes and inspires. She is beautiful in truth, she is luminous, has wit and she is signed, with her heart in the middle. ”On the eve of drawing a line on his first life, Pierre congratulates himself on“ having had the chance to work with great colleagues [NDLR : flatteur, va !], my second family. This is what I will miss the most: going on a report in pairs, making the subject in our heads on the way and coming back with something diametrically opposed. “Once is not customary, our friend Pierrot, so often lunar, is today in the front page. Know that it is with great happiness and pride that we have all lent you our pen. And now it’s your turn: cheeeese!
–
