Background
Gaumy was born in Pontaillac, Charente-Maritime, France.
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Jean Gaumy
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Education
He attended school in Toulouse and Aurillac and went to university in Rouen.
Career
While a student in Rouen, he began working as a freelance photographer to help pay for his education. In 1973 he joined Gamma (agency). Much of his work has focused on human confinement.
In 1975 he began work on two such projects in France: L"hôpital and Les Incarcérés, both of which were published as books
Les Incarcérés was an unprecedented project on French prisons—he was the first to receive permission to photograph them. In 1984 he made his first film, Louisiana Boucane.
lieutenant was nominated for a César in 1986. That year he also began a series of trips aboard trawlers which led to his 2001 publication Pleine Mer.
Beginning in 1987 he spent two years documenting Octeville-sur-Mer through the eyes of the so-called village idiot Jean-Jacques.
Since the late 1980s he has also traveled often to Iran and has also traveled in Central America and Africa He has made several other films. In recent years he has been documenting life on a nuclear submarine and has also worked on a series of mountain landscapes.
Achievements
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Named Peintre de la Marine, 2008 Prix Nadar, France, 2001 et 2010 Prix du film document de Belfort (for "Jean-Jacques") France, 1987 Nomination for a César Award (for Louisiana Boucane) (short-documentary category) France, 1986 Prix du premier film au Festival du Film Ethnologique, Paris, France, 1984.
Membership
Magnum Photos.
