Birds of Happiness. The “great true story…” by Olivier Frimat, nature photographer

It's under a radiant spring sun that Olivier Frimat welcomes us aboard his mobile home: a truck fitted out with salvaged equipment. " Before, I stayed in campsites for the night when I was bivouacking or reporting. But it was getting boring [...] I wanted more independence and to be closer to nature ," explains the man born in Créhange, in Moselle, in 1967. Even as a child, the Moselle native appreciated being in contact with nature. He tells us with nostalgia about fishing trips with his maternal grandfather, his long hours spent watching the Meuse rise from its banks, but above all his unexpected encounter with a wildcat on the heights of Haudainville, the Meuse village where he grew up.

In 2001, he decided to get back into it. " I was fed up with my job selling photo equipment in a supermarket, so I decided to go on a sabbatical project in Wissembourg, in the north of Alsace. " 300 kilometers later, the adventurer returned with two reports in his pocket, but above all, a real "click": he wanted to live as close as possible to natural wildlife.

A trigger that continued when, in 2004, he observed a lynx in a " remote corner of Déodatie ." " I found hairs that were analyzed by scientists and which allowed me to confirm that I had seen, very fleetingly, a lynx. " So, for 20 years, he has parked his truck in this same area. And, even if he hasn't had the chance to encounter the feline again since, he has never regretted it.

The experienced photographer will first observe a black woodpecker , which he nicknames "the carpenter of the Eastern forests", because his mission is to dig the future habitat of the Tengmalm's owl. Then, in 2015, he will have the honor of observing the said owl, native to the Arctic Circle. " It is a very rare bird of prey that was only discovered in 1924 in the Vosges, so I was very lucky to observe it in turn. "

Olivier Frimat, who is now on his ^2131st bivouac, wanted to share all these observations with as many people as possible. So, when Transdev launched calls for projects in 2024 as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), he immediately jumped at the chance to present his talk project . " I didn't want it to be a conference, but really a discussion, a moment of sharing between the public and me. "

A few months later, in October 2024, he will present his first talk in front of 13 people, then to Senones, or even to La Grande Fosse, in the Vosges, where he plays to full houses. The apprentice storyteller has then achieved his goal: to tell, with humor, emotion and precision, " this theater of biodiversity and proximity ." Something he knows how to do, because the former journalist, who wrote for several magazines such as Montagnes Vosges or Pays Comtois, from 2001 to 2010, is thus accustomed to writing and storytelling.

" I use many tricks to capture the audience's attention, from changes in tone to objects to lighting. " More than just a story, the photographer offers a truly theatrical production, based on a sound and visual slideshow.

Alongside his observations and explorations in the natural environment, which he wouldn't give up for anything in the world, Olivier Frimat would like to go even further on the educational front. For example, by speaking in schools to "talk" about his cool projects.