France wildfire photo becomes symbol of summer fires

A smartphone photograph of vacationers watching smoke from wildfires at a beach in southwest France has become a widely shared image of Europe's wildfire summer.

AFP photo editor Maximilien Lamy took the picture last week while on holiday with his partner and daughter in Lacanau. He said he was walking from his parked car to a restaurant when he photographed people on the lakeside beach.

The image shows a couple sitting in striped deck chairs under a brightly coloured parasol as a large column of smoke rises in the background and casts an orange glow across the sky.

Commentators described the photograph as a symbol of the French fires and linked it to wider concerns about climate inaction. Le Figaro said the image looked like an allegory, with the catastrophe dominating the frame but appearing pushed into the background.

Lamy said he understood the response and called the picture symbolic of the era. But he warned people not to judge the couple in the image, saying nobody knew what they were thinking and that they were probably powerless.

Some people online said the image was so striking that they thought it was AI-generated. Lamy said it was not altered, apart from a small crop on the sides.