Ambroise Tézenas

In cooperation with Leica Camera AG, Solms, the European photo book publishers Actes Sud (France), Apeiron Photos (Greece), Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK), Edition Braus im Wachter Verlag (Germany), Lunwerg Editores (Spain), Peliti Associati (Italy) and Mets & Schilt (Netherlands) have chosen the winner of the "Leica European Publishers Award for Photography 2006". Besides having his book project 'Beijing' published, the Frenchman Ambroise Tézenas will receive prize money of 10,000 euros and an engraved LEICA M7 rangefinder system camera. Born in Paris, Ambroise Tézenas studied at the College of Applied Arts in Vevey (Switzerland) and now works as a freelance photographer for the international press. His work has already been published in magazines such as The New York Times, Libération, Paris Match, Geo and Images.

"Old Beijing or new Beijing, by day or by night - after five trips to the Chinese capital, Ambroise Tézenas presents an ambivalent picture of this city. Only 30 years ago, Beijing, the old imperial city, was a large village built near to the ground. People lived in narrow streets called "hutongs". Today, the planned economy is turning more and more into a market economy, rural life is being industrialized and urbanized. China is opening itself to the world to become a multi-national eldorado. Since 2001, Ambroise Tézenas has been returning to the Chinese capital every November, to the modern, the traditional, the poetic or the futuristic city. His long excursions on foot are part of his approach to photography and seem like a ritual" says the book description on the Internet at www.editionbraus.de. The book project ‘Beijing' will be published in autumn 2006 in German by Edition Braus, Heidelberg, and costs 39.90 Euro (order no. ISBN 3-89904-228-X).