Perpignan photojournalism festival

Contact sheet criticism

Article published on the 2009-09-02 Latest update 2009-09-07 06:47 TU

 

Sergei Kosmin is from Russia and is waiting outside the offices of France’s Association Nationale des Iconographes, the national Photo Editors association. He says he’s brought “reportage from Russia, Ukraine and other countries”. He works on “politics, nationalism movements, things like daily life”.

Another photographer David Helman, from Bordeaux in France, has just met with one of the association’s photo readers for about 20 minutes. He says a meeting like this allows photographers to see how good their portfolio is and that the association usually has useful criticism.

“It’s good to hear negative things”, he says, “the purpose of Perpigan is also to hear ‘it’s not so good, you have to be better with that, or that.”

Ani’s President, Soûad Mechta says 300 photographers a week are bringing their work to the team, which comprises ten picture editors. Ani has been doing this at the Visa festival for ten years.

“We have some photographers who come back, not every year but every two years,” she says “to show us the evolution of their work and this is very interesting as well because there is a relationship”.

“They come to see us because we are other eyes, with another point of view,” she says. The advice handed out can be “technical, artistic or commercial”.

“If, to sell this work, it could be better in another way, we explain it, and why, and how,” she says.

Helman says he’s at the festival with three other photographers and that one of them visited Ani the day before, “and another one is going to do the same tomorrow”. His friend came away happy the day before, “the guy told him that next year he would be published for sure because it’s good work he’s doing and he has to continue and it was positive”.

Because Ani is here every year, looking at so much work, they’re well placed to spot the trends in the business.

“Every year it’s different,” says Mechta.

“There are some fashions in the way [people] present work…everybody wants to go to India, to make some pictures in India…,” she smiles, “every year we find new fashions, it’s funny”.

As well as doling out honest criticism, the editors can suggest contacts, “do you know this magazine, have you met this magazine? I can help you to meet them”, says Mechta. And they run what they call their coup de coeur, a selection of the photos that really impress them.

Helman says he brought “four documentary projects, sort of magazines,” to the editors this year and came out of it pretty well since Ani selected him for their exhibition, “so I think the work is good”.

“When we love it we want to make it known to everybody,” Mechta says and explains that they have a partnership with Canon, who helps them to print the photos so they can exhibit them at the Visa festival.

“Afterwards we bring this very small exhibition to Paris,” she says. Then a committee shortlists a number of pictures destined for several hundred photo professionals.

“It’s like a trampoline”.