Born in France in 1970, Christophe Archambault studied geography at university. He began his career as a freelance photographer working for French magazines on various stories focused on southeast Asia, from the gems business across the peninsula (through the Mogok ruby mines in northern Myanmar to the stones-cutting world capital of Chantaburi) to Phnom Penh's water festival. He joined Agence France Presse (AFP) as a picture editor in Paris in 2000, then took up a position of photographer/editor for AFP in New Delhi in 2004. Archambault spent four years in south Asia, traveling extensively across the region where he covered the parliamentary election in Afghanistan in 2005, took trips to remote districts of the northern Badakshan province along with UN missions and covered the aftermath of the killing of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto in late 2007 in Pakistan. Archambault was posted as a photographer in Bangkok in September 2008 and covered the developments unfolding in Thai politics from the October 2008 riots to last year's occupation of central Bangkok by the opposition Red Shirts. He was named chief photographer at AFP's Bangkok bureau in April 2010 and since that date has coordinated photo coverage of southeast Asia.
