Making a Moment: Thomas Sappe Photographs a Leap of Faith
6In our article series, Making a Moment, we’re asking photographers to share one of their favorite photos that they’ve taken. We want to know the story behind the final image and everything that went into making it.
In this edition we meet Thomas Sappe (@tom69). Thomas’ work in tropical agronomy has taken him to Madagascar, Namibia, Ivory Coast, and Morocco, where he was able to fully immerse himself in local rural life. This proximity allowed him to develop a photographic eye with a sociological and cultural approach. He tells us how he discovered and often captured “a human world, deeply physical, collective, and evolving at its own pace.”
This approach, which manages to be both poetic and political, is also evident in his series titled Escape, from which this photo is taken.
Thomas: This image is part of the Escape series. Through eight spontaneous film photographs, Escape conveys the desire of young Moroccans to leave Africa for Europe.
These images were taken in Morocco, the final African base before the ultimate Mediterranean crossing to Spain. The Mediterranean Sea is symbolized by a wall, the air by a bridge or a door—separating two spaces: the familiar and the unknown. A moment frozen in time, where neither before nor after exists. A time stripped of attachments. Who has never sat before the sea, wondering what lies beyond the horizon?
These images, reflecting the ideas described above, were taken spontaneously, without staging or preparation. This particular shot was taken at the Ouzoud Waterfalls in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains, in 2007. I only decided a long time after taking it to use it as part of the series Escape.
At that time, my photographic equipment consisted of a Leica M3 with a Leica Elmar 50mm f/2.8 lens (my daily companion, always in my bag), as well as a Canon EOS-1 reflex camera with a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. The film used was Kodak TMAX 400.
This photographic series exploring migration is significant to me because it tells stories I have witnessed and heard. When I lived in Morocco, I encountered men and women whose eyes and silences carried the weight of waiting for elsewhere. To migrate clandestinely is to leave without knowing if one will ever arrive. It is to gamble one’s life for an uncertain freedom, for the hope of better days.
Nothing has changed. This quest crosses borders, seas, and years. It remains ever-present, urgent, and relevant. The simple desire to live.
Thank you to Thomas for sharing this moment with us! To see more of his photography be sure to follow him at his LomoHome.
Check out our previous Making a Moment articles! Interested in being featured? Email alex.gray@lomography.com with the subject line - Making a Moment.
written by alexgray on 2025-04-08 #people #making-a-moment #black-and-white #community #documentary #making-a-moment
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