The professional week at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan has just drawn to its close and for yet another year I’ve not made it there, or to any of the other major festivals. I’m not quite sure why I’ve never really got into the habit, perhaps because I don’t much like the kind of networking that these things are very much about, but probably more that I just don’t like travelling. Lack of money also comes into it. If there was a similar event in London, I’d probably make it, and I have managed to drag myself across to Paris a few times, largely I think because its another city I love.
But al least if I don’t get to the meetings or to see the exhibitions I can look at the web site, and I’ve spent some time doing so for Visa Pour l’Image. It’s very much a festival of serious photojournalism and after a while the images can get rather depressing, no matter how good the photography, so it was a pleasure to come across the work of Peter Dench, with his often light-heated look at the English. You can see more of this on his own web site.
Congratulations also to the winner of this year’s Canon Female Photojournalist Award, Ilvy Njiokiktjien (The Netherlands), which will enable her to continue work on her project on Afrikaner teenagers in post-Apartheid South Africa for a showing at Visa Pour L’Image 2012. You can read about her project on the Canon site and there is a link to an interview. I did wonder slightly if text on the site saying she had already photographed a “nine-day period of training sessions led by a racist leader” was likely to make relations between her and the people she is intending to photograph more difficult. But perhaps they only read Afrikaans.
Perpignan has one big advantage over most photo festivals in that it is an open competition and any professional photographer one can send in an entry – the simple rules are given on the web site. Unlike some other events, there is no entry fee. Of course you do need to have the right kind of work, and at least 50 images on a single story. The web page states: “Please note that we are an international festival of photojournalism focusing on news and current affairs. Please, NO art photography or series of portraits.” Entries for 2012 open in January and the deadline is 30 March 2012.
Thanks for the Peter Dench link. Much to admire there.