"My first 'real' photograph: Mekong Delta, Vietnam, October 1991. I was 23 and making my first big journey in Asia, in the footsteps of my father, a naval officer. In Vietnam I had chosen the Mekong Delta as my theme, with an old Olympus and the novels of Marguerite Duras as my provisions. In search of elsewhere and of the absolute, my mind was filled with the great pictures of Bischof, Cartier-Bresson and Riboud. Back in Paris, on discovering this image, I was certain that photography would accompany me everywhere in the world and would be the essential witness of my life." A long-haul traveller and poet of the image, François Fontaine speaks in a voice that is at once simple and tender, particularly when he addresses the journeys of his life and his chance encounters.