A military photographer-reporter for ten years, from 2006 to 2016, Jérémy Lempin documented the most recent conflicts involving the French army. Deployed multiple times to external theaters of operation (Mali, Central African Republic, Niger, Chad), then a decorated petty officer for his bravery under fire during Operation Serval (awarded the Cross of Military Valor and the Military Medal), he lived alongside soldiers, experiencing the same stress and fears.Several of his brothers-in-arms died while they were on operations together. He was fortunate to return alive and psychologically stable, despite the realities of war that every soldier must confront. Some of his comrades, wounded, were repatriated. Others came back "burned out from within": no apparent physical scars, but an invisible wound that gradually erodes the mind, then the body.

Jérémy Lempin was born in 1983 in northern France. After leaving the military, he became an independent photojournalist and tracked down these soldiers, victims of what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder. For several years, he followed their journeys and collected their testimonies. By documenting their suffering and that of their loved ones, he sought to pay tribute to the fighters they remain and to put a face on wounds that are still too often underestimated today. Making the invisible visible is the very essence of the photographic medium. Through this documentary work, Jérémy Lempin places the human being, in all their fragility, at the heart of his reflection.

Whether living the daily life of an emergency firefighter, embedding with the tight-knit ultras of Racing Club de Lens, or entering the private world of the legionnaires of the prestigious 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), Jérémy Lempin is constantly driven to “go and see” for himself, confronting perspectives in order to challenge preconceived ideas. He shies away from no subject, guided by a curiosity that matches his passion for reportage and investigation.

His method—long-term immersion—resembles documentary and ethnographic photography more than simple on-the-spot shooting.

His report on Peyo, the horse said to whisper in the ears of patients in a palliative care unit, earned him a World Press Photo award and a Visa d’Or at the Visa pour l’Image festival in 2021. His work on French soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (Aux Armes et caetera, 2017–2021), later published as a book in October 2023, was exhibited at the International Center of Photojournalism in Perpignan and at the Salon de la Photo in 2024.